Martinez Tribune The website of the Martinez Tribune.
BY RICK PORCARO
The A’s rode a strong pitching performance by Adrian Martinez to shut down the powerful bats of the AL East leading Yankees for the second game in a row to score a 4-1 win over New York before 29,498 fans at the Coliseum Sunday afternoon.
Martinez (3-3, 5.28) held the Yankees to just one run, allowing three hits and two walks while striking out six in 5 1/3 innings, including AL MVP frontrunner Aaron Judge twice. He didn’t allow his first hit until Aaron Hicks singled with two outs in the fifth, extending a dominant stretch of A’s pitching where they only allowed a single hit in 15 1/3 innings as they rebounded after losing the first two games of the series to force a split after Saturday’s 3-2 win in 11 innngs.
Oakland catcher Shea Langeliers congrats A.J. Puk after the final out of the Athletics 4-1 win over the New York Yankees Sunday afternoon. The win gave the A’s a split of the four game series.
“His changeup was dominant today,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said. “He got a lot of swing and miss on the changeup. Six punch outs against that lineup, it was a great start. This kid just seems to feed off a big environment. The Triple-A numbers don’t show how he’s able go out and perform here. He did that today against one of the better lineups in the league.”
AJ Puk came on to pitch a perfect ninth inning for his fourth save, quickly redeeming himself after his horrific 10th inning performance Saturday night almost gave New York a win in an extra inning game where they only had one hit.
Stephen Vogt got Oakland on the board quickly with a first inning double off Yankees starter and loser Clarke Schmidt (5-3, 2.89) driving in Seth Brown to give the A’s a 1-0 lead. Dermis Garcia, in just his tenth game in the majors, went 2-3 with RBI singles in the first and third inning to pace the Oakland attack. Garcia (.333) now has eight hits to show for his first 24 big league at bats.
A’s GM Billy Beane shares a smile and embrace with former Oakland Athletic star Miguel Tejada during pre-game festivities honoring the 20th anniversary of the 2002 Athletics team that ripped off a then AL record 20-game winning streak as Tejada captured MVP honors.
The Yankees got their only run of the game in the fifth when singles by Hicks and Kyle Higashioka sandwiched around a Martinez wild pitch produced a run.
After a day off tomorrow to travel across the country for a six game road trip against the Nationals and Orioles, the A’s will take the field for the first of three games in Washington DC Tuesday evening with Cole Irvin (6-11, 3.16) facing the Nats Eric Fedde (5-8, 4.86).
GAME NOTES:
In spite of the win, the Athletics were eliminated from the AL West race as a result of the Astros win over Baltimore. It’s (Game 129) the earliest the A’s have ever been eliminated since MLB expanded to 24 teams in 1969 and the first time the teams hopes have ever been extinguished before September.
The A’s entered the game last in the majors with a paltry .214 batting average. If they finish the season with that average, it would make them one of just three teams in American League history to bat so poorly.
With 33 games remaining, Oakland has already tied their All-Time franchise record for most players used in a season at 56, matching the mark of the 1915 Philadelphia A’s.
