A-Rod and the streaking New York Yankees made Jake Peavy's first — and probably last — appearance in The House that Ruth Built a short one.

Dan Haren had much more success facing his old team for the first time.

Alex Rodriguez, last year's AL MVP, homered off Peavy, the NL Cy Young Award winner, and the Yankees held off San Diego 8-5 Wednesday night, setting a season high with their sixth consecutive victory.

Peavy (5-4), pitching for the first time at Yankee Stadium — which will close after this season — lasted four innings. In his second start since coming off the disabled list, he gave up four runs — three earned — and six hits. On a pitch count of 85-95, Peavy lasted 93 as he rebuilds his stamina.

"I felt a whole lot better than I did five days ago. The results just weren't there," Peavy said. "The first two innings took a lot out of me."

"Next time, get that up over 100 and hopefully things will work a little better."

The right-hander missed nearly a month with a strained right elbow.

For Rodriguez, his solo shot to left off Peavy in the bottom of the third, his 14th this season and No. 532 in his career, gave him homers in four consecutive games.

"Peavy's an awesome competitor. I wish we had him on our team," Rodriguez said. "Although we didn't get a lot of runs early, we were able to get him out of there. We knew he was on a pitch count."

In Phoenix, Haren came away with mixed emotions after dominating the Oakland Athletics for seven innings in an 11-1 victory for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

"It was a little weird," said Haren, who was acquired by the Diamondbacks in an offseason trade. "A lot of those guys are still really close friends for me."

One of his closest friends is Joe Blanton, who lasted only three innings, his shortest outing since May 25, 2005.