A.J. Burnett (10–12) pitched a solid game for the Yankees, delivering a season-high eight strikeouts in six innings of work, throwing 91 pitches.
“I think his velocity was great and he had a nice break on his breaking ball. He pitched really well,” first baseman Mark Teixera said of Burnett to YES after the game.
It was a much needed win for Burnett, who has struggled all season and been out with injury.
There had been rumors that Burnett faced being dropped from the pitching rotation if he didn’t pick his game up Wednesday. But Yankees manager Joe Girardi had denied them before the start of Wednesday’s game.
“That’s not a thought in my mind,” Girardi said. “A.J. is a guy that we need, and we need him to pitch at a high level so it’s important that we get him going.”
The Yankees got on the board in the first inning with Teixeira doubling to send in Derek Jeter, who had singled.
Then the Yankees scored three runs in the bottom of the second that came after a fielding error by Anderson.
The error allowed Jeter to make it to first and Curtis Granderson to score from third to give the Yanks a 2–0 lead.
Then Teixera drove in two more runs with a ground ball single after Nick Swisher was walked by Anderson to put the Yankees up 4–0.
“The first ball was really the only one I hit hard. The other two just found holes,” Teixera said in reference to his first and second inning RBIs, and a single in the fifth inning. “Sometimes you just have to be lucky,” Teixera said humbly.
Oakland got on the board in the fourth inning with one out with a two-run homer by Kevin Kouzmanoff that just made it over the right field wall.
The homer seemed to put Burnett on edge after breezing through the three previous innings.
Burnett followed the homer by giving up a single to Mark Ellis, which prompted a coaching visit to the mound to help him calm his nerves. The top of the fourth inning was over after that with the Yankees making a double play.
The Athletics got their third run in the fifth inning from Rajai Davis, who opened with a ground-rule double to left center field. Davis stole third base and then came in for the run with Coco Crisp grounding out.
Things got tense in the eighth inning when Jorge Posada getting ejected from the game after exchanging words with home plate umpire Dana DeMuth.
Posada lost his temper when DeMuth made a seemingly poor strike call to give Oakland their second out. The Yankees squandered their chance to score with Lance Berkman being stranded at second with Jeter getting out on the next play.
Oakland had an opportunity to tie the game in the top of the ninth after Daric Barton singled with two outs, and then stole second.
But Yankees closer Mariano Rivera sealed the win with Kurt Suzuki striking out swinging on the next play.
The Yankees will have ace pitcher CC Sabathia on the mound on Thursday as they look to sweep the series. Oddly enough, their last sweep was also against Oakland, back in early July.
