Yankees win 5th straight, sweep A’s 6-2 as Teixeira, Swisher homer to back Burnett

Burnett finally wins again, Yankees sweep A’s

OAKLAND, Calif. — Mark Teixeira hit a three-run homer to help A.J. Burnett win for the first time in more than five weeks, and the New York Yankees completed a sweep of the Oakland Athletics with a 6-2 victory Wednesday night.

Derek Jeter had a go-ahead single and Ramiro Pena also singled in a run in New York’s five-run fourth inning. The Yankees won their fifth straight and earned their first road sweep of the season.

Burnett (7-7) pitched seven strong innings to end a six-start winless stretch in which he was 0-5 since beating the Indians on May 30.

Nick Swisher homered and doubled among his three hits against his former team, and he’s still doing all he can to be added to the AL All-Star team.

Alex Rodriguez went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts and a walk a night after hitting two home runs, with a grand slam. He has 597 career clouts heading into a four-game series in his old Seattle stomping grounds starting Thursday night. A-Rod is looking to become only the seventh player to join the 600-club.

The Yankees are a season-best 22 games over .500 at 53-31 and hold a two-game lead in the AL East over Tampa Bay, which swept Boston to send the Red Sox to 4½ back. New York finishes up its final West Coast trip of the year against the Mariners.

The Yankees won their fourth straight road game and 10th in 13 away from Yankee Stadium.

New York swept the A’s at the Coliseum in a series of three or more games for just the third time since 1980 and first since taking three in a row here from May 13-15, 2005.

The A’s trail the season series 1-5, the third straight year they’ve come up short to New York. The Yankees are 17-4 against Oakland over the past three campaigns. The A’s still must go to Yankee Stadium for a four-game set from Aug. 30-Sept. 2.

Burnett got back on track with this one. He allowed two runs on five hits, struck out three and walked two.

Gio Gonzalez (7-6) was done after equaling his season-low of four innings. He didn’t get much support from the offense, either.

The A’s took a brief lead on Coco Crisp’s RBI single in the third after the Yankees missed chances in each of the first three innings, but that was it until Jack Cust added an RBI single in the sixth.

Coming off a win at Cleveland after going winless in his previous four outings, Gonzalez matched his season high with five walks. He was tagged for five runs and eight hits and he struck out five.

NOTES: Swisher on boosting his chances to win the online voting to be an All-Star: “Keep pushin’, keep pushin’.” … Yankees 2B Robinson Cano was held out of the lineup for the first time all season, a chance to rest his tweaked back that he hurt Sunday against Toronto. The team also decided to pull him from Monday’s Home Run Derby at the All-Star game in Anaheim. … The A’s called up RHP Ross Wolf from Triple-A Sacramento and optioned RHP Tyson Ross to Sacramento to develop him as a starter. To clear a spot on the 40-man roster, the A’s transferred Eric Chavez to the 60-day disabled list. … It was 58 degrees at first pitch, yet another unseasonably cool summer night in the Bay Area. … New York’s Brett Gardner stole his 25th base in the fourth following a two-out walk.