A’s muscle past Yankees, pull into Wild Card tie

The A’s shocked the New York Yankees with a 6-2 win Tuesday night to start the three-game home series.

After opening the scoring in the first inning, the Yankees (83-44) were held off the scoreboard for the next six innings, while the A’s (72-53) stacked up runs.

This story has been updated with quotes and post-game material from the A’s clubhouse at the Oakland Coliseum.

A’s starting right-hander Homer Bailey said:

“Obviously it’s important for us to gain the lead right there. But with this team, it wasn’t necessarily surprising. With the series we just played and to start this one off this way, I feel like this is a club that believes they can play with anybody, and we’re showing it.”

Designated hitter Gary Sánchez’s solo home run (28) gave the Yankees the early lead.

The A’s quickly answered in the bottom of the first inning, beginning their commanding game with back-to-back home runs.

First baseman Matt Olson cracked a two-run home run (26) to right field off Yankees starter Domingo Germán (L, 16=3, 4.15 ERA), scoring with Robbie Grossman to take the lead.

Mark Canha (19) followed up with a solo home run, putting the A’s up 3-1. Olson said:

“I feel like we’ve been doing that lately. we give up a run or two, find a way to come in and respond. To shut down any momentum is nice to do.”

In the bottom of the second inning, Marcus Semien doubled to score Chris Hermann from first base to extend the lead to 4-1. 

After that explosive start, the game went scoreless for the next three innings. Bailey (W, 11-8, 5.06 ERA) tied his season-high eight strikeouts through 5-2/3 innings to earn the win. Bailey said:

“I think the key was staying hooked … Some of those other hits, I didn’t think were hit really, really hard. The home run obviously was, but just keep staying with it. Sometimes you just have to grind those games out and let your offense do what they did tonight.”

In the bottom of the sixth, the A’s put the game out of reach. Canha followed up a single by Olson with a deep double. With runners on second and third base, Stephen Piscotty slipped a two-RBI single past three Yankees infielders to left field for a 6-1 lead.

The A’s continued to shut down the Yankees offense in the top of the seventh inning. Olson jump started a double play by spinning for a quick throw to Semien at second base, who connected with relief pitcher Yusmeiro Petit at first base. Olson said:

“It was just kind of a reaction … last second I decided to spin and fire and luckily, it worked out well.”

Bob Melvin said:

I didn’t even think he was going to throw it to second. I’m glad marcus was there, because I don’t know that anybody else thought that he would actually try and make that throw and get the double play.”

After being held without a hit in his first three at bats, Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge (13) slammed a solo home run to cut the A’s lead to 6-2 in the top of the eighth inning.

In the top of the ninth inning, right hand reliever Liam Hendriks struck out two batters to complete the A’s 6-2 win.

Up Next

The A’s will look to clinch the series win tomorrow night. A’s right-hander Mike Fiers (11-3, 3.46 ERA) will face Yankees left-hander J.A. Happ (10-7, 5.4 ERA).

Notes

Canha extended his hitting streak to five games, the longest active streak for the A’s. This is the 11th time the A’s hit back-to-back home runs this season. Bailey remains undefeated at Oakland Coliseum with a 3-0 record.