On your Mark: In the fourth inning, Teixeira blasted his 21st home run of the season to right field, knotting the score 2-2.
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Oakland Athletics’ starting pitcher Scott Kazmir exited Wednesday’s game against the New York Yankees following the conclusion the third inning. Yankees second baseman Stephen Drew also homered in the eighth. Wednesday night, he shouldered the load as the Yankees beat the Oakland Athletics 5-4, hitting two home runs, drawing a walk, and making two highlight-reel plays-a catch over the dugout railing and a diving stab at first base.
Miller found his way through the ninth despite an error that put the tying run at second base, nailing down his 18th save in as many opportunities this season. The only run off him came after an error by third baseman Brett Lawrie.
Pitching on eight days’ rest after having his start pushed back, Sabathia (4-8) recovered from two rocky innings to pitch into the sixth.
Kazmir left his start May 27 with shoulder tightness.
– In the sixth, Teixeira added his second, another blast to right giving the Yankees a 4-2 lead. He has 22 homers on the year and a league-leading 61 RBIs.
The A’s dropped to 5-17 when their opponent starts a left-hander.
Dellin Betances bounced back from his tough outing Tuesday, striking out two during a flawless eighth inning. Betances slid back into the setup role with Miller’s return.
– Later in the fourth, second baseman Jose Pirela scored Young on a sac fly to take a 3-2 lead. The ex- ace had given up 10 runs and 14 hits over his previous two starts and had not won since June 7.
The second starter on a struggling Athletics pitching staff that features Sonny Gray, Kazmir has been one of the more consistent pitchers in Oakland this season. He was caught in a rundown when he broke for home on Jake Smolinski’s grounder to third base. Four of those came in the second inning, giving the Athletics a quick 2-0 lead on RBI singles by Josh Phegley and Mark Canha.
Girardi got help up in the Yankees’ bullpen, but Sabathia recovered and didn’t yield another hit until the fifth. 241 and.304. Smolinski walked and singled against Sabathia, and it was his hit that ended Sabathia’s night. The bullpen – with Miller available for the first time in a month – handled the final 11 outs to seal the win. In his first victory since June 7 against the Los Angeles Angels, Sabathia allowed two runs and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings.Sabathia threw 59 of 88 pitches for strikes and retired 12 of the final 16 hitters he faced.
Scott Kazmir was handling the Yankees’ lineup over the first three innings, surrendering only an unearned run in the second inning. He struck out four.
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Yankees: CF Jacoby Ellsbury went 1 for 4 in his first game in seven weeks. Girardi hopes to have Headley in the lineup Thursday.
