WP: C. Sabathia (11-3) LP: T. Cahill (8-3)Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E N.Y. Yankees « 0 0 5 0 0 1 0 0 0 6 5 0 Oakland 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 7 0
Well, Tuesday didn’t disappoint.
In an All Star pitching match-up, big man CC Sabathia took the mound against the young gun Trevor Cahill to open the game.
While Cahill retired the first six Yankees he faced, Sabathia ran into trouble in the 1st inning. Coco Crisp hit a leadoff single, stole 2nd, advanced to 3rd on a wild pitch and scored on a two-out single by Kevin Kouzmanoff to give the A’s a 1-0 lead.
Cahill would find trouble of his own in the 3rd when he surrendered a leadoff basehit to Jorge Posada. Curtis Granderson would ground into a force-out at 2nd and Colin Curtis drew a walk to give the Yanks 1st and 2nd with 1 out. Brett Gardner singled to load the bases and Derek Jeter grounded into a force-out at 2nd while Granderson scored to tie the game 1-1. Mark Teixeira would be hit by a pitch to bring up Alex Rodriguez.
As we all know, A-Rod has hit two grand slam homeruns this season already. One against the Minnesota Twins and one against the Cleveland Indians, both back in May (14th and 31st) at Yankee Stadium. Well, tonight Rodriguez was served a meatball down the middle that he absolutely annihilated into left-centerfield. The 21st grand slam of his career brings him to a tie with Manny Ramirez for 2nd all-time. Alex trails the legendary Iron Horse Lou Gehrig by 2 grand slams for the career record. More importantly, New York took a 5-1 lead.
Sabathia wouldn’t give it back, either. He was, once again, exceptional. With a season-high 10 strikeouts, he was doing nearly all the work by himself. When balls were hit into play, the defense didn’t let him down. Texieira made two nice catches in foul territory and A-Rod made a flashy diving catch to his left and proceeded to double off Rosales at 1st. Texieira's leaping grab in the 9th wasn't too shabby, either.
When Sabathia worked himself into trouble, giving up 7 hits and 3 walks tonight, he was able to regain himself and take care of business. In the 5th inning, after loading the bases for Daric Barton, he sat him down with a 3-2 fastball looking as Barton was immediately tossed from the game for slamming his bat and cursing.
A-Rod would provide even more power in the top of the 6th with a solo shot to centerfield to extend the lead to 6-1. Alex has continued his rampage toward #600 and now sits at #597.
David Robertson relieved Sabathia in the 8th and struck out Kouzmanoff to end the frame. He would come back on in the 9th and retire the side in order to secure the 6-1 victory.
| Hitters | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
| Brett Gardner, LF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | .313 |
| Derek Jeter, SS | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .278 |
| Mark Teixeira, 1B | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .241 |
| Alex Rodriguez, 3B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .276 |
| Robinson Cano, 2B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .337 |
| Nick Swisher, DH | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .292 |
| Jorge Posada, C | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .268 |
| Curtis Granderson, CF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .228 |
| Colin Curtis, RF | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .235 |
| Totals | 31 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 7 | | |
| Batting | ||||||||
| HR - Alex Rodriguez 2 (14, Cahill, Cahill) | ||||||||
| RBI - Derek Jeter (40), Alex Rodriguez 5 (67) | ||||||||
| 2-OUT RBI - Alex Rodriguez 4 (22) | ||||||||
| SB - Curtis Granderson (7, 2nd base off Blevins/Suzuki) | ||||||||
| RISP: 2-5 (Derek Jeter 0-1, Brett Gardner 1-2, Alex Rodriguez 1-1, Robinson Cano 0-1) Team LOB - 3 | ||||||||
| Fielding | ||||||||
| DP - Sabathia-Cano-Teixeira, Rodriguez-Teixeira | ||||||||
| Pitchers | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
| CC Sabathia (W,11-3) | 7.2 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 0 | 3.19 |
| David Robertson | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5.65 |
| WP - CC Sabathia (6) | ||||||||
| Pitches-Strikes - CC Sabathia 118-74, David Robertson 16-11 | ||||||||
| Ground Balls-Fly Balls - CC Sabathia 4-6, David Robertson 1-1 | ||||||||
| First-pitch strikes/Batters faced: CCC Sabathia 19/30; David Robertson 2/4 | ||||||||
| PLAYER OF THE GAME: Alex Rodriguez HONORABLE MENTION: CC Sabathia |
