New York Yankees take over American League East lead
The New York Yankees defeated the Oakland A’s 9-3 on Tuesday continuing their domination against them. With the win, the Yankees also took over sole possession of first place in the American League East.
The Yankees were once again able to get to Oakland pitchers and for the second consecutive game, hit three home runs. Mark Teixeira led the way for the Yankees hitting a three-run shot for his 30th home run of the season. He also picked up his 95th RBI this season in the process. Nick Swisher added a two-run shot and Curtis Granderson also got in on the home run action with a solo shot for the Yankees. Swisher was impressed with the way his team performed.
"What a great game tonight was -- great pitching, clutch hitting," Swisher said. "(Teixeira) is on fire...it's just been a lot of fun to watch."
The Yankees have now won four straight and took over first place in the AL East with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays losing to the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday 9-3. The Yankees are now 7-1 against the A’s this season and 18-3 in their last 21 games against Oakland.
Phil Hughes improved his record to 16-6 and only went five innings for the win. He gave up two runs and four hits, but also gave up a season-high five walks. Chad Gaudin pitched three innings of relief giving up one run.
Vin Mazzaro took the loss for the A’s and dropped his record to 6-7. Mazzaro lasted just 3 2/3 innings giving up seven earned runs. He is now winless in his last seven starts, which includes five losses.
"I battled. I fell behind a lot," Mazarro said. "If you fall behind these guys, they're going to punish you. I just tried too hard and left the ball up in the zone."
The Yankees got things going quickly picking up three runs in the first inning, which was highlighted by a Jorge Posada RBI triple. It was the catchers first triple since 2008.
The A’s made things interesting in the third inning after loading the bases with nobody out but were only able to score one run off a Kurt Suzuki sacrifice fly to make the score 3-1
Swisher made it 5-1 in the home half of the third to put the Yankees up 5-1.
Rajai Davis was able to get a run back for the A’s in the fourth inning, however, the Yankees responded with four runs of their own in the fourth including home runs from Teixeira and Granderson to put the Yankees up 9-2. It was Granderson’s 15th home run of the season.
Daric Barton hit a solo shot in the seventh inning off of Gaudin to close out the scoring at 9-3.
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