Juan Soto, held out of the starting lineup because of a bruised knee, lined a pinch-hit double in the middle of a three-run, 10th-inning uprising as the New York Yankees outlasted the host Oakland Athletics 4-2 in the opener of a three-game series on Friday.
The Yankees (90-64) retained their four-game lead over the Baltimore Orioles atop the American League East. New York’s magic number to win the division title dropped to five with eight games remaining.
New York starter Gerrit Cole threw a season-high nine innings and allowed only one run.
After neither team had scored since the fifth, the Yankees jumped on Oakland’s sixth pitcher, T.J. McFarland (2-4) in the 10th. Anthony Rizzo’s single and a passed ball by A’s catcher Shea Langeliers allowed automatic runner Jasson Dominguez to score the go-ahead run.
Injured while sliding into an outfield fence while making a catch in Seattle on Thursday, Soto then lashed his double to left-center, scoring pinch runner Oswaldo Cabrera, to make it 3-1. Anthony Volpe followed with an RBI single, plating Jon Berti, who had come on to run for Soto.
Luke Weaver served up an RBI single to JJ Bleday leading off the last of the 10th before striking out the next three batters, each representing the potential tying run, for his third save. That preserved a win for Cole (7-5), who was pulled after having thrown 99 pitches.
Cole, a California native making his last start in Oakland before the A’s are scheduled to move to Sacramento next season, improved to 5-0 in his career at the Coliseum. He gave up just two hits, walked one and struck out seven while pitching beyond the sixth inning for the first time this year.
The teams traded single runs early in the game to produce the 1-1 tie that lasted until the 10th.
Oakland (67-87) got on the board first after Lawrence Butler produced the hosts’ first hit, a single leading off the fourth. He came around to score on a one-out steal and two-out RBI single by Langeliers.
It didn’t take the Yankees long to draw even. Rizzo drew a two-out walk in the fifth, took third on a single by Trent Grisham and scored on a single by Volpe.
Seeking his first major league win, A’s starter J.T. Ginn was replaced after the fifth, having limited the Yankees to one run and four hits. He struck out four and walked one.
Volpe collected three singles and two RBIs for the Yankees, who out-hit the A’s 8-3. Aaron Judge went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
