Yankees Extend AL East Lead With Comeback Win Over A’s

The New York Yankees simply cannot lose.

That's how it appears anyway, after the Bombers doubled up the A's 6-3 at the new Stadium early Friday morning.

After a rain delay of nearly three hours, Oakland jumped on starter CC Sabathia early, scoring a pair of runs in the second inning. An RBI single from Kurt Suzuki tacked on another run in the fourth, but then the Yankees' bats came alive.

Mark Teixeira launched his 24th longball of the year to cut the lead to just one run, before RBI hits from Jorge Posada and a suddenly effective Eric Hinske gave the Yanks the lead.

(In six games with the Yankees, Hinske has four home runs, six RBIs and a .333 batting average. Red Sox fans should rightfully be befuddled.)

Teixeira and Posada each added another RBI in the bottom of the fifth, and Sabathia and Phil Hughes took care of the rest.

With the win, Sabathia improved his record to 10-6 and maintained a 3.67 ERA. Hughes earned his first save of the year, pitching two perfect innings of relief.

Hughes has been absolutely lights out for New York since moving to the bullpen. In 17 appearances, he has pitched 24 1/3 innings, posting a 0.74 ERA, 28 strikeouts, five walks and a WHIP of 0.70. As a starter this season, Hughes was 3-2 with a 5.45 ERA.

The win stretches New York's AL East lead to 2 1/2 games — the largest such margin of the year.