The Oakland Athletics were hoping to give the New York Yankees a run for their money as their four-game series kicked off on Thursday night. Thanks to some key hits and a stellar performance by starting pitcher A.J. Griffin, that's exactly what happened. The A's picked up yet another win with a 4-3 victory over the Bronx Bombers at O.co Coliseum.
Griffin worked his way out of a jam in the first inning and then Yoenis Cespedes launched a two-out, two-run homer in the bottom of the frame to stake the A's to a quick 2-0 lead.
Seth Smith stretched that lead all the way out to 4-0 in the third inning with a two-run RBI single. Griffin held the game at 4-0 until the sixth inning, when he gave up back-to-back, two-out RBI singles to Mark Teixeira and Nick Swisher. Griffin ended up going six innings and giving up two runs on seven hits and no walks, while striking out four.
Ryan Cook came on in the ninth to get the save. He gave up a one-out home run to Nick Swisher that cut the Oakland lead to just one run, but struck out Raul Ibanez and got Russell Martin to ground out to end the game.
The A's will attempt to secure at least a series split with another win on Friday.
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