The Oakland Colosseum has served as a favorite west coast destination for the Yankees over the past couple of seasons in which they have won nine straight, including three this season. The A's were overly due to pick up the slack at home and they turned the 9-game losing deficit into a 4-game win streak in the blink of an eye.
The A's had been hot in July, posting an 11-2 record, and the Yankees, the previous hottest team in baseball before leaving the homer-happy confines of Yankee Stadium. Freddy Garcia was slotted in to slow down the young team, but instead found himself in a 4-0 hole by the 3rd inning, thanks to a bases loaded double by Seth Smith which increased the Oakland lead to four runs. In true Yankee fashion, they chipped away in the 6th to cut the score to 4-2, but overall couldn't get the big inning against A.J. Griffin (no relation to Burnett). It came down to the 9th inning when Oakland closer Ryan Cook came out to shut the door. Nick Swisher brought the team one run nearer to tying it with a solo homerun that make it 4-3 in favor of the A's, but that was the end of the Yankee magic for the night and their 9-game win streak at Oakland was finished.
Looking to brush off the inevitable road loss to the A's, the Yankees sent their 10-game winner Ivan Nova to the mound to start a new Oakland win streak, the only problem was A's starter Tommy Milone wasn't cooperating. The Yankee bats were blanked by Milone over his 7 innings of work while Nova grinded through 6.2 inning, giving up 2 runs and needing Boone Logan to bail him out of the 7th inning with no further damage being done. Nick Swisher was knocked out of the game trying to beat out an infield grounder and ended up straining his hip flexor, which will have him on the bench for at least the rest of the road trip. The news comes as a double blow due the fact it was earlier announced Brett Gardner will undergo season ending surgery for his mystery shoulder ailment. The offense finally woke up in the 8th with a solo homer from Russell Martin, and then in the 9th Robinson Cano tied it up with his 22nd bomb of the season which tied the game at 2-2. The pesky A's didn't let the blown save bother them, in the bottom of the 9th with one out, hits from Yoenis Cespedes, Jonny Gomes, and finally the hero Brandon Moss off of the losing pitcher, Cody Eppley, gave the A's the walk-off win.
After being out-pitched by the A's in two straight games, the Yankees were hoping Phil Hughes could stop the trend, and unfortunately he couldn't. Jarrod Parker (yet another 'who?' in the A's rotation) out pitched Hughes by only giving up one run in 8 innings. Hughes took the hard luck loss and only received one run of support while giving up solo homeruns to Cespedes in the 4th and Brandon Inge in the 8th. This time around Sean Doolittle was sent to the mound by Bob Melvin to finish the game and there would be no 9th inning homers from the Yankees who fell 2-1 to the A's.
Now looking to just be able to leave town without the total embarasment of getting swept in four games, CC Sabathia was called upon to be the ace once again and stop the losing streak, and for a while it looked like he might be the one to do it. In a match-up that already took place in Oakland, Sabathia had the 4-0 advantage over former-Yankee heavyweight Bartolo Colon by the 4th inning with a solo homerun from Curtis Granderson, his 26th of the season. Sabathia, making his second start from being on the DL, despite going 7 innings, wasn't as sharp as his first outing against the hapless Blue Jays, and gave up two solo homers in the 5th, and another run in the 6th off of a fielder's choice groundout. The Yankees failed to tack on any insurance runs and it would come back to sting them. Rafael Soriano came on for the save and to stop the Yankee bleeding, and the man who had been excellent all season in Mariano Rivera's shoes and only blew one save up to this point, managed to blow his second save of the season at a very bad time by allowing a solo homerun to Seth Smith over the centerfield wall which erased the Yankee lead and made it all tied 4 all. There would be no shirt untucking this time for Soriano, who at least got out of the inning with no further damage.
It became a battle of the bullpens and the Yankees had a good chance in the 10th to go ahead by a run, but Derek Jeter took a called strike three with Cano left stranded at second. Then in the top of the 12th there was a golden opportunity to take the lead when Mark Teixeira singled and ended up on second base with a throwing error from Josh Reddick to start the inning. Robinson Cano, who had his multigame hitting streak ended the previous day, lined out to center afterwards. Alex Rodriguez was intentionally walked and A's lefty Jerry Blevins got out of his own jam by getting Raul Ibanez and Eric Chavez to hit infield pop ups and the Yankee run chance was spoiled. Where the Yankees left the door open, the A's took advantage. Cody Eppley was on the mound for another Oakland walk-off win in the bottom of the 12th when Coco Crisp managed a two-out single that scored Derek Norris from second base, and the Yankees had officially been swept!!
Even though the Yankees had lost each of the games by the margin of one run, which included an untimely blown save from the usually reliable Rafael Soriano, still the young and frisky A's had out-pitched and out-hit the mighty Yankees, who dropped below the 20 games over .500 mark with a 57-38 record and saw their lead in the AL East decrease to 6 games. The Yanks will try to salvage something from this west coast getaway with a trip to Seattle against the Mariners, and of course will draw King Felix Hernandez in the second game....
The A's had been hot in July, posting an 11-2 record, and the Yankees, the previous hottest team in baseball before leaving the homer-happy confines of Yankee Stadium. Freddy Garcia was slotted in to slow down the young team, but instead found himself in a 4-0 hole by the 3rd inning, thanks to a bases loaded double by Seth Smith which increased the Oakland lead to four runs. In true Yankee fashion, they chipped away in the 6th to cut the score to 4-2, but overall couldn't get the big inning against A.J. Griffin (no relation to Burnett). It came down to the 9th inning when Oakland closer Ryan Cook came out to shut the door. Nick Swisher brought the team one run nearer to tying it with a solo homerun that make it 4-3 in favor of the A's, but that was the end of the Yankee magic for the night and their 9-game win streak at Oakland was finished.
Looking to brush off the inevitable road loss to the A's, the Yankees sent their 10-game winner Ivan Nova to the mound to start a new Oakland win streak, the only problem was A's starter Tommy Milone wasn't cooperating. The Yankee bats were blanked by Milone over his 7 innings of work while Nova grinded through 6.2 inning, giving up 2 runs and needing Boone Logan to bail him out of the 7th inning with no further damage being done. Nick Swisher was knocked out of the game trying to beat out an infield grounder and ended up straining his hip flexor, which will have him on the bench for at least the rest of the road trip. The news comes as a double blow due the fact it was earlier announced Brett Gardner will undergo season ending surgery for his mystery shoulder ailment. The offense finally woke up in the 8th with a solo homer from Russell Martin, and then in the 9th Robinson Cano tied it up with his 22nd bomb of the season which tied the game at 2-2. The pesky A's didn't let the blown save bother them, in the bottom of the 9th with one out, hits from Yoenis Cespedes, Jonny Gomes, and finally the hero Brandon Moss off of the losing pitcher, Cody Eppley, gave the A's the walk-off win.
After being out-pitched by the A's in two straight games, the Yankees were hoping Phil Hughes could stop the trend, and unfortunately he couldn't. Jarrod Parker (yet another 'who?' in the A's rotation) out pitched Hughes by only giving up one run in 8 innings. Hughes took the hard luck loss and only received one run of support while giving up solo homeruns to Cespedes in the 4th and Brandon Inge in the 8th. This time around Sean Doolittle was sent to the mound by Bob Melvin to finish the game and there would be no 9th inning homers from the Yankees who fell 2-1 to the A's.
Now looking to just be able to leave town without the total embarasment of getting swept in four games, CC Sabathia was called upon to be the ace once again and stop the losing streak, and for a while it looked like he might be the one to do it. In a match-up that already took place in Oakland, Sabathia had the 4-0 advantage over former-Yankee heavyweight Bartolo Colon by the 4th inning with a solo homerun from Curtis Granderson, his 26th of the season. Sabathia, making his second start from being on the DL, despite going 7 innings, wasn't as sharp as his first outing against the hapless Blue Jays, and gave up two solo homers in the 5th, and another run in the 6th off of a fielder's choice groundout. The Yankees failed to tack on any insurance runs and it would come back to sting them. Rafael Soriano came on for the save and to stop the Yankee bleeding, and the man who had been excellent all season in Mariano Rivera's shoes and only blew one save up to this point, managed to blow his second save of the season at a very bad time by allowing a solo homerun to Seth Smith over the centerfield wall which erased the Yankee lead and made it all tied 4 all. There would be no shirt untucking this time for Soriano, who at least got out of the inning with no further damage.
It became a battle of the bullpens and the Yankees had a good chance in the 10th to go ahead by a run, but Derek Jeter took a called strike three with Cano left stranded at second. Then in the top of the 12th there was a golden opportunity to take the lead when Mark Teixeira singled and ended up on second base with a throwing error from Josh Reddick to start the inning. Robinson Cano, who had his multigame hitting streak ended the previous day, lined out to center afterwards. Alex Rodriguez was intentionally walked and A's lefty Jerry Blevins got out of his own jam by getting Raul Ibanez and Eric Chavez to hit infield pop ups and the Yankee run chance was spoiled. Where the Yankees left the door open, the A's took advantage. Cody Eppley was on the mound for another Oakland walk-off win in the bottom of the 12th when Coco Crisp managed a two-out single that scored Derek Norris from second base, and the Yankees had officially been swept!!
Even though the Yankees had lost each of the games by the margin of one run, which included an untimely blown save from the usually reliable Rafael Soriano, still the young and frisky A's had out-pitched and out-hit the mighty Yankees, who dropped below the 20 games over .500 mark with a 57-38 record and saw their lead in the AL East decrease to 6 games. The Yanks will try to salvage something from this west coast getaway with a trip to Seattle against the Mariners, and of course will draw King Felix Hernandez in the second game....
