|
 Brett Gardner scored all the way from second base on an infield
hit with two outs in the sixth inning, and Starlin Castro followed
with another run-scoring single, as the New York Yankees rallied to
complete a four-game sweep of the Oakland Athletics with a 5-4
victory Sunday.
Brian McCann and Jacoby Ellsbury hit solo home runs for the Yankees
on a day that began with the A's placing ace right-hander Sonny Gray
on the disabled list with a strained right trapezius.
"Big hit for us," assured A's catcher Stephen Vogt, who drove in
three of the team's four runs Sunday. "We're hurting without Sonny."
Right-hander Michael Pineda snapped a personal five-game losing
streak and won for the first time since April 6, getting help from
three relievers to close out a 4-3 win for the Yankees in the season
series.
"We've got all phases of the game going now," observed McCann, whose
Yankees were swept by the A's in a three-game series in New York
last month. "We needed to play better baseball, and we are. Better
situational hitting, better pitching, better defense."
 Closer Aroldis Chapman pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for sixth save after
shoddy defense with fellow left-hander Andrew Miller on the mound
had allowed the A's to get within 5-4 in the eighth.
The Yankees took a 5-3 lead into the bottom of the eighth before
inning-opening errors by shortstop Didi Gregorius and second baseman
Castro put the potential tying runs on base for Oakland.
But Miller got the next three batters, allowing an unearned run on
pinch hitter Billy Butler's infield out.
"When you're getting good pitching, you're going to win ballgames,"
McCann assessed. "Now we're hitting better and we're playing better
all around."
Vogt's two-out, two-run double in the fifth inning had given Oakland
a 3-2 lead.
But the Yankees rallied in the sixth after consecutive one-out
singles by Gardner and Carlos Beltran to extend their season-best
winning streak to five games.
A's starter Jesse Hahn struck out McCann for the second out, but he
was pulled in favor of right-hander John Axford with the
switch-hitting Mark Teixeira coming to the plate.
"I wasn't going to leave my three best (relievers) in my pocket with
10 outs to go," A's manager Bob Melvin explained.
The strategy backfired on the A's, as Teixeira hit a grounder to the
right of Oakland second baseman Chris Coghlan, who was playing 20
feet onto the outfield grass.
Coghlan got to the ball and rushed a throw to first, but Teixeira
got there first for an infield hit.
Starting from second, Gardner never hesitated rounding third and
beat A's first baseman Yonder Alonso's throw to the plate to tie the
game at 3-3.
"You're taught to run hard there," Yankees manager Joe Girardi
noted. "So good job by Gardy there."
The hit was Teixeira's first after an 0-or-19 drought.
"That was a big hit," Girardi said. "That changes a lot. It changes
how we're able to use our bullpen."
Castro followed with a sharp single, scoring Beltran with the
go-ahead run.
Beltran capped an 11-hit road trip with an RBI double in the seventh
inning, giving the Yankees bullpen a two-run lead with which to
work.
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Right-hander Dellin Betances then tag-teamed with Miller and Chapman
to take it home from there.
Pineda (2-5), who had gotten tagged for a total of 11 runs in his
previous two starts, limited the A's to three runs on six hits in
six innings. He struck out six and walked one.
"I'm very encouraged," Girardi said of Pineda's performance. "He had
more consistency in his stuff today."
Hahn (1-2) took the loss despite the fact he walked off the mound
with a lead. He was credited with four runs allowed in 5 2/3
innings. He allowed six hits, did not walk a batter, and struck out
three.
He was taken out after throwing just 73 pitches in his second start
since being recalled from Triple-A Nashville last week.
"He did great," Vogt assessed. "It was unfortunate that we didn't
hold on for him."
McCann's homer, his sixth of the season, pulled New York into a 1-1
tie in the second inning after the A's had scored in the first on
Vogt's infield out.
Ellsbury's second homer of the season gave the visitors a 2-1 lead
in the third.
Beltran and Gregorius had two hits apiece for the Yankees, whose
four-game sweep at Oakland was their first since July 6-8, 1979.
New York was able to go 5-2 on its weeklong trip despite a 1-2 start
at Arizona.
Billy Burns scored three times after two hits and two stolen bases
for Oakland, which had a losing seven-game homestand despite
sweeping three from Texas to start the week.
The A's hadn't been swept in a four-game series at home since an
April 26-29, 1999 series against Cleveland.
NOTES: Yankees DH Carlos Beltran's 2-for-4 effort Sunday made him
18-for-51 (.353) with 15 RBIs in his last 14 games. ... A's manager
Bob Melvin said no decision has been made on who will replace RHP
Sonny Gray (strained trapezius) in the starting rotation. RHP Daniel
Mengden, who has allowed just two earned runs in 27 innings for
Triple-A Nashville, is a candidate for Wednesday's series finale at
Seattle. ... The A's promoted a reliever, LHP Daniel Coulombe, to
take Gray's spot on the active roster. Coulombe pitched two
scoreless innings with two strikeouts Sunday. ... With Gray and RF
Josh Reddick (broken thumb) having been added during the Yankees
series, the A's currently have a major-league-high 13 players on the
disabled list. It's their most since 1979. ... Yankees manager Joe
Girardi said RHP Luis Severino (strained right triceps) will throw a
bullpen session Tuesday in New York. If all goes well, he could make
an injury-rehab appearance next weekend.
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