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Crisp homered twice and drove in five runs, going 4-for-4 with a three-run shot in the 10th inning that sent the Oakland Athletics to a 6-4 victory Wednesday night.
The loss dropped the Yankees a game behind Boston in the AL East when the Red Sox finished a 13-2 rout of Texas. New York has a 71/2-game lead in the wild-card race.
“They have the best players in baseball, without a doubt,” Crisp said. “You go every position, there’s no letup. For us to come out here with our young guys and keep our composure in this intense ballpark said a lot.”
No. 9 batter Scott Sizemore also went 4-for-4 and hit a tying double off CC Sabathia in the eighth, and Oakland won at Yankee Stadium for the second consecutive night to clinch a series victory. The A’s had lost 10 straight series against New York, an Oakland record for futility against any team.
Nick Swisher homered twice, and Mark Teixeira also connected for the Yankees, who had dropped only two of its previous 20 series since June 10.
Oakland goes for a three-game sweep this afternoon with Rich Harden on the mound against Phil Hughes.
“Feels good,” interim manager Bob Melvin said. “We’ve got one more game to play tomorrow. We win the first two, got to try to get greedy. We’ll talk about that a little bit tomorrow, but it’s certainly a nice start to what looks to be a tough road trip.”
Trevor Cahill finally held New York in check, Brian Fuentes pitched out of a seventh-inning jam and the A’s improved to 7-26 against the Yankees since 2008. The last time Oakland won a series against New York was the summer of 2007, when the A’s took two of three at old Yankee Stadium.
Crisp also walked during a perfect night at the plate and matched career highs for hits and RBI. The A’s have won six of eight after a four-game skid.
Fautino De Los Santos (2-0) struck out two in a perfect ninth. Andrew Bailey earned his 18th save in 20 chances, despite giving up a solo shot with two outs to Swisher, closing out the Yankees for the second straight night.
Cliff Pennington and Sizemore singled with one out in the 10th against former Mariners reliever Rafael Soriano (2-2), who had been extremely effective since returning July 29 from a long stint on the disabled list. Jemile Weeks struck out but Crisp hit the next pitch, a hanging slider, into the second deck in right for his seventh homer.
“Today wasn’t my day. I left a couple pitches up,” Soriano said through a translator.
