New York Yankees All-Star first baseman Mark Teixeira continued to dominate opposing pitching last night as he crushed two solo bombs off Oakland A's reliever Evan Scribner to lead the Bronx Bombers to a 5-4 victory. Scribner went on to take the loss after giving up three earned runs and four hits in just over two innings pitched after replacing starter Scott Kazmir who exited after the third inning with a left tricep strain.
The A's took an early 2-0 lead after roughing up C.C. Sabathia for four hits in the second. New York got one back in the bottom of the inning after Didi Gregorius doubled to right, scoring Chris Young who reached on a fielding error by A's third baseman Brett Lawrie. Lawrie's error was the team's 81st of the season, which leads the majors in the category. Sabathia would settle in after the second inning. He pitched into the sixth without yielding another run and picked up his fourth win of the year.
Mark Teixeira swung the game in New York's favor after evening the score at 2-2 with a solo home run to lead off the fourth inning. It sparked a two run inning capped off by a Jose Pirela sac-fly providing the Yankees with a 3-2 lead. In Teixeira's next at-bat he knocked out his second long ball to add to the Yankees lead as they went up 4-2 in the sixth. Tex also flashed his glove on multiple occasions throughout the night. For example, in the top of the seventh he showed great awareness to locate where he was on the field while reaching over the rail of the first base dugout to catch a foul ball. He also made a spectacular diving grab, snapping off a scorched ground ball down the line by Oakland's Josh Reddick to end the top of the eighth inning.
In the bottom of the eighth inning Stephen Drew, who entered the game as a defensive replacement, homered off Fernando Abad in his only at-bat of the night putting the Yankees up 5-2 entering the ninth.
New York brought in Andrew Miller to close down the ninth for the save. Miller made his first appearance since June 10th, after landing on the disabled list with a left flexor forearm strain. The Yankees closer, who's been lights out all season, came close to having his first blown save of the year in his return. He gave up a one out single to Mark Canha, followed by a two-run homer by Marcus Semien to narrow the lead to 5-4. Two batters later with the game on the line A's All-Star Stephen Vogt hit a chopper to third that was misplayed and under thrown by Yankees Gregorio Petit, advancing Vogt to second base. Representing the winning run, Ben Zobrist stepped up to the plate in a five pitch at-bat that ultimately ended the game after he hit a dribbler to Petit who redeemed himself with a strong throw to Teixeira at first.
For two teams at opposite ends of the standings, the series has been an entertaining one. The win puts the Yankees up 2.5 games in the AL East with a record of 45-39, while the A's remain in the cellar of the AL West falling to 39-48 on the year. The teams are set for a rubber match as the A's Jesse Chavez is set to take on Yankees ace Masahiro Tanaka in their series finale on Thursday at 1:05 PM ET.