Rodriguez and Williams homered, and Wang pitched three-hit ball for eight innings in New York's 2-0 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Friday night.
Matsui had surgery Friday to repair his left wrist, broken Thursday night when he tried for a diving catch against Boston. Before the game, Yankees manager Joe Torre and center fielder Johnny Damon said New York's other players would have to bear down and focus.
Rodriguez, booed in his first two at-bats after striking out, pulled an off-speed pitch from Barry Zito (2-3) over the wall in left-center, near the 399-foot sign. Before the homer, Rodriguez was hitting .210 (13-for-62) in his career against Zito - including a grand slam in New York's season-opening 15-2 win at Oakland.
Williams added his second homer of the season in the eighth, a drive off former Yankee Randy Keisler, who was called up before the game and made his Oakland debut.
Wang (3-1), helped by four double plays, had the best of his 25 career starts, never allowing a runner past first. He gave up three singles, walked two and struck out none, getting 20 outs on grounders.
Pitching for the third straight night, Mariano Rivera finished with a one-hit ninth for his seventh save in eight chances. With runners at the corners and one out, he got Nick Swisher to ground into Oakland's fifth double play of the night.
Zito has been victimized by poor run support all season: While he's been in, the A's have not scored more than three runs in any of his eight starts, and while he has allowed one run in 20 1-3 innings over his last three starts, he has gone just 1-1 in that span.
He allowed five hits in six innings, struck out four and walked four, dropping to 2-9 in 15 regular-season starts against New York.
With Matsui sidelined for three months or more, Torre said the Yankees will primarily use Bubba Crosby and Melky Cabrera as their corner outfielders. Against the left-handed Zito, Cabrera started in left and Williams in right, and Crosby replaced Cabrera in the eighth inning.
Oakland, which has lost three straight and six of nine, dropped under .500 at 17-18. The A's were without third baseman Eric Chavez (bacterial infection) and catcher Jason Kendall (serving a suspension) for the fourth straight game, and designated hitter Frank Thomas was out, a day after straining his right quadriceps.
Notes
Yankees RHP Carl Pavano allowed one run and three hits in six innings for Double-A Trenton against Bowie in an Eastern League game, striking out six and walking none. ... New York 2B Robinson Cano backhanded Adam Melhuse's grounder near second leading off the eighth, and made a strong, leaping throw from the edge of the outfield grass for the out. ... There were seven double plays overall.
