Yankees 8, Athletics 3: CC Sabathia and offense shine in third straight victory

Don't look now, but the Yankees have won three games in a row...for the first time all season. After being activated from the disabled list earlier in the day, CC Sabathia made his first start since suffering from a groin strain during the first week of May. The injury came right after he made his best start of the season, and he was able to pick up where he left off tonight. I'm not saying his new knee brace is magic, but it might be.

In the second inning, Sabathia got into a bit of trouble after he walked Billy Butler and hit Stephen Vogt in the wrist. Matt McBride singled to left to score Oakland's first run of the game. Sabathia cruised through the rest of the game, striking out a season-high eight batters and holding the Athletics to just three hits.

Early on, it looked like the Yankees' offense might not pick Sabathia up, but they finally came to life in the fourth inning. After Aaron Hicks worked a walk and Didi Gregorius singled to right, Ronald Torreyes hit a triple to deep center field to give the Yankees the lead. Jacoby Ellsbury did what he does best and reached on catcher interference then Torreyes scored on a wild pitch. Carlos Beltran drove in two more runs with a double to deep center field. Beltran hit his THIRD double of the game in the sixth inning to put the Yankees up 6-1. Ellsbury tacked on the final two runs of the game in the eighth inning with a triple of his own.

The only Yankees who failed to muster up a hit tonight were Mark Teixeira and Starlin Castro who both went 0-for-5. Torreyes made the only error of the night, a fielding error, when he spun around in circles trying to locate the ball that was right next to him. The Athletics had an even sloppier night, making three total errors. The first was charged to Vogt on the catcher interference. Marcus Semien also made a wide throw to first that allowed Castro to reach. Finally, Butler had a chance to catch a pop up that Castro hit in foul territory, but he dropped it.

After six fantastic innings, Sabathia was lifted in favor of Kirby Yates. With two outs, Tyler Ladendorf singled then Coco Crisp drove in the run on a ball that landed right between Gardner and Ellsbury. Yates worked a clean eighth inning then passed the ball to Chasen Shreve. Oakland added their final run in the ninth after Billy Burns hit a leadoff triple, but it wasn't enough to come within striking distance.

Masahiro Tanaka will get the start tomorrow opposite of Sean Manaea at 4:05 EST.

Box score