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A's hang on to edge Yankees

Aug 24, 2011 - 4:08 AM Bronx, NY (Sports Network) - Brandon Allen hit two mammoth solo home runs, Brandon McCarthy hurled 7 2/3 solid innings and Andrew Bailey left the bases loaded in a shaky ninth to send the Oakland Athletics over the New York Yankees, 6-5, in the opener of a three-game series.

McCarthy (7-6) held New York scoreless until Nick Swisher's three-run homer in the eighth and was charged with eight hits and three walks.

He had to wait out the win, however, as Bailey surrendered a solo shot to Jorge Posada in the ninth, then loaded the bases with one out. After Mark Teixeira fouled out meekly to third, Robinson Cano took a payoff pitch at the knees for ball four, forcing in Russell Martin.

With the potential winning run on second, Swisher took the first two pitches off the plate, then drove one to center that Coco Crisp tracked down near the wall to seal Bailey's precarious save, his 17th of the season.

"All I needed to do was get a base hit. I got my pitch and took my chance. I just didn't get it done," Swisher said.

Eric Sogard added a solo homer for the A's, whose previous three-homer game came on May 2 against Texas. The 98-game stretch with two homers or less was an Oakland record.

Bartolo Colon (8-8) dropped back to .500 after yielding five runs on eight hits in 6 1/3 innings for New York, which fell into a tie with Boston atop the AL East standings with its second loss in three games.

Allen unloaded on Colon's 3-1 fastball in the second inning and sent it into the upper deck in right field, just the second player to do so in the three- year existence of the new Yankee Stadium -- the other being Russell Branyan.

While Sogard's first career homer wasn't as impressive, it was just as effective as he found the first row of seats down the right-field line in the third inning.

The A's padded their lead later on when Crisp doubled and scored on a Josh Willingham sacrifice fly in the sixth, and Scott Sizemore knocked in a pair in the seventh. Colon was pulled with two on and one out in the latter frame, and Boone Logan surrendered Sizemore's double down the first-base line to bring in Cliff Pennington and Kurt Suzuki.

In the eighth, Allen pounded a Hector Noesi offering into the second deck in right field to post his first career multi-home run game. The blast proved to be the game-winner.

"Everything wound up being big for us," A's manager Bob Melvin said. "They didn't look like big hits at the time, but they ended up big."

McCarthy's sixth inning was his only perfect frame, but he held the Yankees hitless in seven at-bats with runners in scoring position through seven. After the first two hitters reached in the eighth, McCarthy retired two straight before Swisher sent one over the wall in right-center to halve the deficit.

After Posada's homer in the ninth, Martin doubled and Brett Gardner reached on Sizemore's error on a chopper to third. Derek Jeter put down a sacrifice bunt before Curtis Granderson walked to fill the bags for Teixeira.

Game Notes

Allen was playing in his 10th game with the A's since being acquired in a trade with the Diamondbacks...Sogard homered in his 42nd career at- bat...McCarthy is 6-1 in eight starts since the All-Star break...The A's won for just the third time in their last 17 visits to the Bronx...Jeter went 3- for-3 with a walk and has eight multi-hit efforts in his last 11 games, raising his batting average from .271 to .295...Cano went 1-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to 14 games...Of the 17 home runs allowed by Colon this year, 13 have been of the solo variety...The Yankees are 21-21 in series openers this season...Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez was scratched due to a jammed left thumb.