Oakland Athletics 3 – New York Yankees 2 (11 innings)
The series of struggling offenses began when the Oakland A’s visited the Yankees.
After a scoreless first inning by Michael Pineda, the Yankees generated a two-out rally against A’s starter Eric Surkamp. Carlos Beltran put a double into left field and Mark Teixeira followed with a walk. Alex Rodriguez made the most of the extended inning by hitting a single to left field, scoring Beltran and giving the Yankees the lead.
In need of a shut down inning, Pineda got two outs around a pair of singles but a run-scoring single by Marcus Semien tied the game. The Yankees put a runner on base in the third and fourth inning but a fifth inning rally reclaimed the lead. Leading off the inning, Didi Gregorius hit a single, unfortunately he was caught stealing when he left early on a 3-2 count. Brett Gardner followed with a walk and Starlin Castro drilled a double into left field to put two in scoring position. Carlos Beltran came through with the productive out when he hit a sacrifice fly to right field. In hindsight, Gregorius caught stealing cost the Yankees a run.
After working around a one-out triple in the fifth inning, Pineda had a second attempt at a shut down inning. Unfortunately, a lead off triple is difficult to work around. Following a strikeout with the infield back, the infield was drawn in, looking to prevent the tying run from scoring but a single got through, tying the game yet again.
In six innings, Michael Pineda allowed two runs on seven hits with a walk and seven strikeouts. Overall, a good night but the two runs surrendered came after the offense provided a lead.
Chasen Shreve pitched a scoreless seventh inning with assistance from stellar Didi Gregorius defense. In the eighth inning, Dellin Betances looked human briefly when he gave up a pair of hits but he also showed vintage Betances stuff, striking out two.
After Andrew Miller pitched a scoreless ninth inning, Chase Headley led off with a single. He was pinch-run for with Jacoby Ellsbury. The speedy outfielder made an attempt at getting into scoring position but was caught stealing. Brett Gardner followed with a strikeout to end the inning and the last rally for the Yankees offense.
In the second inning of work for Johnny Barbato, the A’s got a one-out double by Jed Lowrie. After a ground out moved Lowrie to third, Mark Canha ripped a line drive that deflected off the glove of Didi Gregorius, giving the A’s the lead that they ultimately carried into victory after 11 innings.
Win – Fernando Rodriguez (1-0)
Loss – Johnny Barbato (1-1)
Save – Ryan Madson (5)
Notables
Athletics
*Mark Canha – 1 for 4, RBI (2)
*Jed Lowrie – 4 for 5, 2 R, 2B, RBI (9)
Yankees
*Alex Rodriguez – 2 for 5, RBI (5)
*Carlos Beltran – 1 for 4, R, 2B, RBI (8)
Current Yankees Record: 6-6
