YANKEE NOTES

SEATTLE – Joe Torre’s decision to rest Scott Proctor and Mariano Rivera on Tuesday night may have cost the Yankees a chance at victory.

However, it put the bullpen back on track for last night’s action and didn’t further tax those valuable right arms.

Before the 6-5 loss in which Adrian Beltre clubbed a gamewinning home run off lefty Ron Villone leading off the ninth, Torre said Proctor and Rivera weren’t available.

Proctor had worked four games in five days, and Torre said Rivera’s two innings Sunday night in Boston “weren’t easy.” Torre didn’t use Rivera on Monday in Boston, when Kyle Farnsworth posted a save in the 2-1 win.

Torre said there was nothing wrong with Rivera.

“After the number of pitches [30] we decided to stay away from him,” he said.

Without Proctor and Rivera, Farnsworth was the closer. And that meant Villone started the ninth after entering the game in the seventh with two outs.

“I made a mistake and he capitalized on it,” Villone said of Beltre. “It was supposed to be inside and it was away.”

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First baseman Jason Giambi left Tuesday night’s game in the sixth inning with a left hamstring problem that he and Torre didn’t believe was serious.

Torre said he felt Giambi would be able to play last night.

Giambi took a funny step chasing a foul in the first inning.

“I have been nursing it the past couple of weeks,” said Giambi, who exited after a sixth-inning single. “[Torre] asked me about it in the first inning but I knew that I had to play with it or Bobby [Abreu] wouldn’t get much to hit.”

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Torre said that, after throwing 17 pitches in relief Tuesday night, Jaret Wright will remain the starter tomorrow night in his hometown of Anaheim against the Angels.

Wright, who attended nearby Katela High, is 1-1 with a 7.52 ERA in four starts in Anaheim.

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Carl Pavano is slated to make a minor-league rehab start tomorrow night for Triple-A Columbus, and his pitch count is expected to jump from 78 to 90. … Hideki Matsui rejoined the team yesterday and was slated to hit with both hands off a batting tee for the first time since suffering a fractured left wrist on May 11.