Yeah, it was made to order for Hiroki Kuroda on Sunday–pitcher’s park, lousy team–and he responded with a fine performance. Kuroda got into one fix–first and third with one out in the seventh–but snaked out of it (strike out, fly out) without giving up a run.
Tommy Milone was almost as good for the A’s. A junkballing left-hander with an easy delivery, Milone allowed two runs, a solo homer by Andruw Jones in the second and a two-out RBI double to Mark Teixeira in the seventh (they were two of the only hard-hit balls by either team all afternoon). The Yanks had runners on base in the first three innings but couldn’t get anything done.
Didn’t matter, though. The A’s weak offense was no match for Kuroda. Raphael Soriano worked around a two-out single in the ninth and earned the save.
Final Score: Yanks 2, A’s 0.
Yanks have won six in a row and trail the first place O’s and Rays by two-and-a-half games. Next up, some serious pitching and a hot Albert Pujols in the suburbs of L.A.
[Photo Credit: Chic Knots; Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images]
Not matter what Arte Moreno or Bud Selig says, Anaheim is not a suburb of Los Angeles. Go Yankees!
It's nice to feast on bottom feeders... it's part of the game.
I can't say the Yankees have played great ball, but 5 in a row is really nice. Seeing Teix contribute may fix our biggest failing to date.
2) Yup. And now they'll have to show us something because Weaver, Haren and Santana are the goods. Plus, Albert is hitting again.