Oakland Athletics Beat Slumping New York Yankees
NEW YORK (AP/CBS SF) -- Kendall Graveman tossed three-hit ball into the seventh inning and struck out eight, pitching the Oakland Athletics past the slumping New York Yankees 5-2 on Wednesday night.
Billy Burns had three hits, Khris Davis delivered a two-run single and the A's stayed perfect in five road games this season. The only major league team that is unbeaten away from home, they have won four straight overall following a four-game slide.
Burns and Chris Coghlan hit consecutive doubles off Nathan Eovaldi (0-2) to start a three-run fourth inning. Josh Reddick had an RBI single and Stephen Vogt added a sacrifice fly, but Oakland third baseman Danny Valencia strained his left hamstring when he was cut down at the plate on Aaron Hicks' rocket throw from medium-deep left field.
The throw from Hicks, a top-notch pitching and outfield prospect in high school, was clocked at 105.5 mph by Statcast, the fastest the system has recorded by an outfielder, according to Major League Baseball.
Without a backup infielder on his four-man bench, Oakland manager Bob Melvin moved Coghlan from second base to third and put designated hitter Jed Lowrie at second. That left the A's without a DH and forced Graveman into Valencia's cleanup spot.
So with a runner on second and two outs in the fifth, the Yankees intentionally walked Reddick to bring up Graveman for his first big league plate appearance. He managed one foul ball but struck out on three pitches, making him the first starting pitcher to bat at the current Yankee Stadium, which opened in 2009.
On the mound, Graveman (1-1) worked his way out of a first-inning jam and gave up only Didi Gregorius' solo homer in his first start at Yankee Stadium. The right-hander was obtained from Toronto in the November 2014 trade that sent reigning AL MVP Josh Donaldson to the Blue Jays.
Carlos Beltran also homered for the Yankees, the first hit off A's reliever Ryan Dull in eight innings this season. New York, struggling mightily with runners in scoring position, has dropped six of seven and mustered only 15 runs during that stretch.
Sean Doolittle pitched a scoreless ninth for his second save, and the A's improved to 15-6 against the Yankees since the start of 2013 -- the best record by an AL team vs. New York during that period.