Yankees 4, A's 6: Crisp's Career Night Leads Oakland to Victory

There was CC Sabathia, cruising to what looked like his 18th win. Then bam! The lead disappears in the eighth inning (with a little help from David Robertson). 

The Oakland offense was led by none other than Coco Crisp, who went 4-4 with two homers and five RBI. He entered the game with a .705 OPS. It's now up to .732. He hit 29% of his season's home run total tonight.

That Yankee pitching has allowed 12 runs over two games to the A's - one of the worst offenses in the game - does not inspire confidence. 

Mark Teixeira didn't let Oakland's slim lead last long though, homering to rightfield to lead-off the bottom of the eighth. 

Mariano Rivera held Oakland scoreless in the top of the ninth, but Rafael Soriano opened the flood gates. With two outs and two runners on in the top of the 10th, and light-hitting Coco Crisp at the plate, Soriano hung a first-pitch slider and Crisp deposited it into the rightfield seats to give Oakland a 6-3 lead. The Yanks scored once in the bottom half, but again fell short of a game-tying rally against Andrew Bailey.

Overall, the Yankee offense let too many chances slip through their fingers. They went 2-10 with RISP and left nine runners on base.

On the plus side, Nick Swisher homered twice and, despite a poor first half, is tearing the cover off the ball on his way to another "Swisher-type" year, and a near certainty that the Yankees pick up his 2012 option.

Now the Yanks are left trying to avoid a sweep at the hands of the A's. A very unenviable position, to say the least.

Play of the Game: Crisp's homer in the 10th off Soriano (-48%!).

Comment of the Game: I'mGivingYouARaise