The New York Yankees completed a series victory over the Oakland Athletics Sunday afternoon with a 7-5 victory. The Yankees got a strong performance from Bartolo Colon who went seven innings giving up two runs. He was supported by big hits from Curtis Granderson and Andruw Jones who combined for four RBIs on a home run and two singles. The A’s tried to rally against David Robertson in the eighth and Mariano Rivera in the ninth inning but came up just short in spite of bringing up the potential go-ahead run in both innings. The A’s performance was highlighted by a 5-for-5 day from Hideki Matsui who raised his average to .237.
As they did on Friday, the A’s managed to jump on top first, scoring two runs in the second inning. The Yankees responded with a run but were shut down after that heading into the fourth inning. Eduardo Nunez gave the Yankees the lead in the fourth on an RBI double that scored Russell Martin and Andruw Jones.
The Yankees added three more runs in the fifth inning and appeared set to cruise to victory. After Derek Jeter led off the inning with a walk, Curtis Granderson hit a two run home run into the right field second deck. Mark Teixeira followed that with a single and eventually scored on an Andruw Jones infield single, giving the Yankees a 6-2 lead.
The A’s seemed set to go quietly into the afternoon but they mounted a late rally. David Robertson relieved Bartolo Colon to start the eighth inning and proceeded to give up back-to-back doubles to Coco Crisp and Hideki Matsui. Josh Willingham then walked before Robertson struck out David DeJesus and forced Conor Jackson to foul out. Kurt Suzuki followed with a double that cut the lead to 6-4, at which point the Yankees brought in Mariano Rivera who calmly retired Cliff Pennington on a ground-out to second.
The Yankees grabbed back a key insurance run in the bottom of the eighth taking a 7-4 lead into the ninth. Eric Sogard grounded out to open the inning, but the A’s were able to follow that with four straight singles against Rivera. The A’s went station-to-station and looked ready to spring the sizable comeback upset. Unfortunately David DeJesus hit a liner right at Mark Teixeira who doubled off Ryan Sweeney at first base.
The A’s head home to face the Tampa Bay Rays in a four-game set starting Monday. Guillermo Moscoso will open the series against Jeremy Hellickson.