Jeter’s three hits, Sabathia’s pitching lead Yankees to 7-2 victory over Athletics

Jeter, Sabathia lead Yankees past A’s 7-2

OAKLAND, Calif. — Derek Jeter had his third straight three-hit game and also knocked in the go-ahead run to help CC Sabathia win for the first time in six years in Oakland in the New York Yankees’ 7-2 victory over the Athletics on Tuesday night.

Jeter’s RBI single in the sixth inning against Jay Marshall (0-1) broke a 2-all tie and the Yankees went on to add four more runs that inning to snap a two-game losing streak.

Sabathia (14-7) grew up going to games at the Coliseum, but has always struggled pitching here with a 1-4 record and 7.12 ERA in eight starts before Tuesday. He had no such problems this game, winning his 10th straight August start and first in Oakland since July 30, 2003, with Cleveland.

Sabathia gave up solo homers in the first two innings to Kurt Suzuki and Tommy Everidge that were coincidentally hit in the vicinity of where his season tickets for Raiders games are located. But Oakland could manage nothing else against New York’s big ace, who allowed five hits and struck out seven in eight innings in front of scores of friends and family members.

Sabathia didn’t seem to be playing to the crowd when he brushed back Suzuki with two outs and nobody on in the first inning — apparent retaliation for Alex Rodriguez getting hit in the left arm the previous inning. Home plate umpire Gerry Layne immediately warned both teams. Then on the next pitch Suzuki got his own form of revenge with his 10th homer of the season.

The game was tied at 2 when the Yankees broke it open with five runs in the sixth against the A’s bullpen. The inning featured a comical moment when Melky Cabrera tried to avoid a pitch from Marshall but got hit and ended up tripping over Suzuki, drawing laughs from his teammates.

Jeter followed with his RBI single that gave the Yankees the lead and the captain his third straight three-hit game. Johnny Damon added an RBI double, Rodriguez drove in a run when he walked with the bases loaded, Hideki Matsui hit an RBI single and Jorge Posada capped the inning with a sacrifice fly.

Jeter is in the middle of quite a stretch, batting (20-for-36) over his past nine games. He also reached on two of Oakland’s four errors, including one by third baseman Adam Kennedy that gave New York its first run.

The Yankees loaded the bases in the first and fourth inning without scoring as Mazzaro struck out Posada to end the first threat and got Mark Teixeira to hit into a double play to end the other.

NOTES: Yankees manager Joe Girardi spent the morning watching a joint practice between the Oakland Raiders and San Francisco 49ers as a guest of Niners coach Mike Singletary. Girardi met former Raiders coach John Madden and owner Al Davis. “Mr. Davis told me to tell Mr. Steinbrenner, ‘Hi,’” Girardi said. … The Yankees, who lead the majors with 182 homers, failed to go deep for the second straight game. … Yankees OF Brett Gardner will need to keep the splint on his broken left thumb on for another week and Girardi said he will probably need 10 days after that before he can return to the majors. … Kennedy had his first career four strikeout game and also committed an error.