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Yankees 5, A's 4: Tex-ual Healing

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Yankees fans can take a deep sigh of relief as the portly roller coaster ride known as Carsten Charles Sabathia actually pitched decently on Wednesday. The efficient Sabathia went 5.1 innings giving up 2 runs, 7 hits, while striking out one lone Athletic. His start was looking grim after giving up a two spot in the bottom of the 2nd when both catcher Josh Phegley and left fielder Mark Canha contributed RBI singles.

A's starter Scott Kazmir was dealing to start the game striking out 4 Yankees through 3 innings while giving up no runs and walking 1. However, the Yankees would get on the board in the bottom of the second however when Didi Gregorius doubled in Chris Young who reached base on an error to start the inning. The Yankees would catch another break in the 4th inning when Kazmir was removed due to left tricep tightness. He would be replaced Evan Scribner, and the Yankees would waste no time putting up runs. Mark Teixeira would start off the Bottom of the 4th with a moonshot, his 21st of the year. Following the dinger, Chris Young would walk and catcher JR Murphy would single putting men on first and second with no outs. Shortstop Didi Gregorius would strike out next, but the Yankees put the pressure on when Chris Young swiped third, setting up a wild pitch that allowed the Yankees to put both men into scoring position. The Yankees would capitalize when second baseman Jose Pirela hit a sacrifice fly that gave the Yankees a one run lead. That would be all the Yanks could get that inning as Gregorio Petit softly grounded out to end the A's trouble in the 4th.

After a fruitless 5th for the Yankees, the Yankee skipper decided it was time for a change to start the 6th. Joe Girardi decided CC was done after an one out single from Jake Smolinski, and called upon the hard throwing Bryan Mitchell who struck out Josh Phegley, then walked Mark Canha. Luckily nothing more would happen as Mitchell induced a ground out from the AL error king Marcus Semien to end the inning. On a side note, this would be the second time in two days a Yankees starting pitcher was given an early hook.

The allstar Mark Teixeira would continue his gem of the night in the bottom of the 6th when he promptly took Evan Scribner deep for the second time of the night on an almost identical pitch giving the Bombers a 4 to 2 lead. In the top of the 7th with Justin Wilson pitching, Tex would show off his glove with a nice play reaching over the home dugout railing to snag a Billy Butler fly ball, and Wilson would finish off the inning with ground outs from Stephen Vogt and Ben Zobrist.

The returning leadoff man Jacoby Ellsbury would show off his wheels in the 7th with an infield hit against Eric O'Flaherty and Brett Gardner would follow up with a walk putting speed on first and second. This would be all the Yankees would get as the A's would bring in Edward Mujica to induce a Alex Rodriguez double play. He would then intentionally walk Mark Teixeira and get Chris Young to pop out to end the inning.

Dellin Betances would come in to pitch the 8th striking out Billy Butler, and Brett Lawrie to start the inning. Pinch hitter Josh Reddick would get a base knock stolen when the man of the evening ,Mark Teixeira, made an incredible diving stop and diving tag of first to end the inning. Stephen Drew would come in for Jose Pirela and hit a solo home run (his 12th of the year) in the bottom of the 8th giving the Yankees a very important insurance run making the game 5 to 2. Yankees fans were glad everywhere as a familiar face would come in to pitch the 9th. Andrew Miller ,also coming off the DL, would come in and try to get his 18th save of the year. He would run intointo trouble as Mark Canha would get a base hit and Marcus Semien would drive both of themselves in with a two run knock to left, making it a one run ballgame. Things would get even more interesting when Petit bounced a ground ball to Mark Texiera moving ,what should have been, the final out to second base. Luckily, our allstar Mark Teixeira would come to the rescue and dig another bad throw from Petit out of the dirt, and get the final out.

In what was a much closer game than it should have been, the Yankees were able to come away with a solid win after a tough loss on Tuesday. They were also able to get a decent performance from a struggling CC and finally get back Jacoby Ellsbury and Andrew Miller. Looking to take the Series, the Yankees will have a day game at 1:05 pm matching up Masahiro Tanaka against Jesse Chavez. In the mean time, don't forget to #votegardy!

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