Pettitte solid in Yankees' win over Athletics

Baseball Betting Lines

04/21/2009 - Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Andy Pettitte threw seven strong innings to lead the New York Yankees in a 5-3 victory over the Oakland Athletics in the first night game at the new Yankee Stadium.

Pettitte (2-0) gave up two runs on nine hits in his time on the hill for New York, which won its second straight game and third in four tries. Mariano Rivera tossed a scoreless ninth to pick up his fourth save on the year. It was also the 57th time Rivera saved a game for Pettitte, tying Oakland's Dennis Eckersley and Bob Welch for the all-time lead in "win-save combinations" since the save became an official statistic in 1969.

Johnny Damon went 2-for-5 with a homer and finished with two RBI, while Brett Gardner also knocked in a pair of runs in the win. Mark Teixeira had an RBI in the win, as Derek Jeter and Hideki Matsui both had two hits and scored a run.

Mark Ellis drove in two runs for the A's, who dropped their third consecutive game. Kurt Suzuki went 4-for-4 and had the other RBI for Oakland. Rajai Davis went 2-for-3 in the setback.

Jason Giambi, who played for the Yankees from 2002-2008, went 1-for-4 with a run scored.

Dana Eveland (0-1) was saddled with the loss after giving up four runs on nine hits in just four innings of work for the A's.

Damon belted a solo homer to right field off Andrew Bailey in the sixth to give the Yankees a 5-2 cushion.

Brian Bruney took over on the hill for Pettitte to start the eighth and retired Giambi and Matt Holliday to start the frame. Jack Cust, though, connected for a single and moved to second on a wild pitch before coming around to score on Ellis' double to the gap in right-center. Eric Chavez lined out to Robinson Cano at second, but not before the A's closed it to 5-3.

Rivera came in to close it out for New York in the ninth and gave up a leadoff single to Suzuki. Pinch-hitter Travis Buck hit a slow roller to Cano, but the second baseman misplayed it and was only able to get Suzuki on the basepath. Ryan Sweeney was caught looking at the third strike for the second out and Orlando Cabrera popped out to Rivera to end the game.

The Yankees got on the board in the second inning. Nick Swisher led off with a walk and Matsui followed with a double before Cody Ransom flied out. Gardner then hit a line drive up the middle to score both runs, and nabbed second base. Jeter hit a shot up the middle that caromed off Ellis' glove, leaving runners at the corners, and Damon clubbed an RBI single to right but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double.

Teixeira kept it going with an RBI single to left, making it 4-0, and Jorge Posada made it first and second with a base hit. Cano, though, flied out to kill the rally.

Oakland solved Pettitte to make it 4-2 in the fourth inning. Singles from Giambi, Holliday and Cust loaded the bases with no outs. Ellis grounded out to plate Giambi, and Chavez grounded out as well. Suzuki slugged an RBI single but Davis flied out to end the inning.

Game Notes

Cust's single in the eighth snapped a string of 22 consecutive batters retired by Bruney. It was longest such streak since Chien-Ming Wang retired 23 consecutive batters in 2008...The scheduled opener of this series was washed away due to rain on Monday, and the clubs will wrap up the shortened two- game series Wednesday afternoon. A makeup date for Monday's tilt has yet to be set, but the two teams are scheduled to meet at Yankee Stadium between July 24-26...Pettitte, who's won 14 or more games in each of the past four seasons, owns an 11-5 record over 20 career starts against Oakland. He was stellar in two outings versus the A's in 2008, as the 36-year-old won both of those starts and yielded just two runs on nine hits over a combined 16 innings of work...Eveland lost his only previous start against the Yankees, which came last June in Oakland, but allowed only two runs over six innings in that game...New York won five of six meetings with the Athletics in 2008 and swept a three-game set in Oakland's final trip to the old Yankee Stadium last July...It was Damon's 2,000th career game.