by Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s finally put together a game that their fans had something to cheer about as they came from behind to defeat the big, bad New York Yankees 5-4 at the O.Co Coliseum Thursday night.  The A’s Kendall Graveman started his second game since being recalled from Nashville and pitched relatively well as he went 5 2/3rds innings giving up seven hits and three runs. Graveman walked two and  struck out four. He left the game trailing 3-0. A’s relievers Fernando Abad and Evan Scribner came through for the A’s holding the Yanks scoreless. A’s closer Tyler Clippard retired the first two batters he faced in the ninth but walked pinch-hitter, Garrett Jones. Brett Gardner doubled to left-center driving in Jones who was running on the pitch. Clippard then retired Chase Headley for the final out to record the win for the A’s.

The Yankees took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning. With one out, Yankees catcher Brian McCann hit  a big fly that left the park over the right field wall. It was McCann’s seventh home run of the season.

The Yanks added a run in the top of the fourth. Alex Rodriguez led off the inning with a single. Graveman walked Mark Texeira to put men on at first and second with no out. Brian McCann followed with a sharp single to center field. Rodriguez appeared to not touch the plate as he was attempting to score. A’s catcher Josh Phegley tagged him and he was ruled out by home plate umpire  Ed Hickox. The Yankees challenged the ruling on the field and it was overturned as the replay showed that A-Rod barely got his hand on a small corner of the plate but he did touch the plate and it was the correct call.

New York took a 3-0 lead in the fifth. Singles by Brett Gardner and Chase Headley put men on at first and third with one out. A-Rod flew out to right field to drive in Gardner with the run. The A’s made it a 3-1 game when they got on the board in the bottom of the fifth. Billy Burns hit  a line shot that barely made it over the wall at the 330 ft. mark. For Burns, it was his second home run of the season.

The A’s tied the game in the bottom of the sixth. Ben Zobrist led off with a double. Zobrist advanced to third when Billy Butler flew out to right field. Sabathia struck out Stephen Vogt, but Brett Lawrie took a pitch to deep left to tie the game. For Lawrie, it was his third homer of the season. 3-3 after six.

The A’s scored two runs in the seventh to take a 5-3 lead. Josh Phegley led off the inning with a single and Mark Canha drew a walk to put two men on with no out. Yankee manager Joe Girardi replaced Sabathia with David Robertson. Billy Burns tried to lay down a sacrifice bunt, but it was not successful as Phegley was thrown out at third base. Marcus Semien singled to load the bases. Ben Zobrist worked Robertson for a walk driving in Canha with the A’s fourth run of the game. Billy Butler flew out to deep centerfield to drive in Burns with the second run of the inning and the fifth of the game for Oakland.

The Yankees refused to go quietly in the ninth. It looked like Clippard was going to set them down in order, but the Yanks had other ideas. Garrett Jones, pinch-hitting for Didi Gregorius, drew a walk with two out. Brett Gardner came to the plate representing the tying run. with a 3-2 count and Jones running on the pitch, Gardner lashed a double to left centerfield to score Jones. Clippard had to face the dangerous Chase Headley to end the game. He got Headley to fly out to center to end the game ad the fans let go a collective sigh of relief as the A’s won the game by a final score of 5-4.

Game notes- The A’s overcame a 3-0 deficit to win their 18th game of the ear. The A’s snapped a 12-game losing streak in one-run games at home dating back to September 6th,2014. It was the longest such streak in Athletics history. The A’s are 1-10 in one-run games at home this season. The A’s have won 15 of the last 20 games against the Yankees.The A’s finally had a hit with a runner in scoring position to snap a 0-for-26 streak.  Winning pitcher for Oakland was Evan Scribner and Tyler Clippard recorded his sixth save of the year. The Yankees C.C.Sabathia took the loss and is now 2-7 with an ERA of 5.67. Sabathia is 9-10 with a 4.75 ERA in 28 career starts against Oakland. Alex Rodriguez recorded his 1996th career RBI tying him with Barry Bonds for second place all-time.

The A’s made another error, but it did not cost them. They have committed 51 errors in 50 games and lead the Major Leagues in that department.

Game two of the four-game series will be played Friday night at 7:05pm at the O.co Coliseum. Sonny Gray (5-2,1.77) will go for Oakland and he will be opposed by LHP Chris Capuano (0-2,7.36)

Attendance was 21,795.