• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

First-place Yanks gun for sweep of A's

Jun 1, 2011 - 3:14 PM (Sports Network) - The New York Yankees have catapulted their way to the top of the American League East Division and look to stay there when they shoot for a three-game sweep of the Oakland Athletics today at the Coliseum.

Curtis Granderson set the tone early in Tuesday's 10-3 win with a two-run homer in the first inning and finished with four RBI, while Robinson Cano got into the act with a two-run blast of his own for the Yankees, who are a game ahead of Boston for division bragging rights and won for the 10th time in 14 tries. Granderson is second in the majors with 17 home runs.

"We have a good lineup," New York manager Joe Girardi said. "We have a deep lineup and we have patient hitters that know how to work the count and foul pitches off. When guys make some mistakes, they get to them."

Alex Rodriguez had three hits and three RBI and Derek Jeter finished 2-for-4 with three runs scored to lift New York to a 3-2 mark on a nine-game road trip. Jeter is 17 hits away from joining the 3,000-hit club. The Yankees have homered in 42 of their 53 games this season and will also visit the LA Angels of Anaheim on this current trip.

Freddy Garcia picked up the win last night with seven innings of three-run ball, while Luis Ayala and Lance Pendleton both tossed a scoreless inning of relief in New York's ninth straight win over the A's. The Yankees have outscored Oakland, 15-3, in the first two portions of this series.

The Yankees are hoping streaky right-hander A.J. Burnett can pull another solid outing from his sleeve when he takes the mound today. Burnett is 1-0 in his last two starts since going 0-2 in three trips to the hill, and last pitched in Friday's 4-3 loss at Seattle. He allowed two runs in five innings with six K's and a season high-tying five walks for a no-decision.

Burnett, who went 1-2 with a 4.06 ERA in May, is 5-3 with a 3.99 ERA in 11 starts this season. He is still searching for his first road win of the season as evidenced by his 0-2 mark in four games outside of the Bronx. He has faced the A's nine times -- all starts -- in his career and is 4-3 with a 3.88 ERA.

Oakland will try to salvage the finale of this set after winning four in a row before the Yankees invaded the Coliseum. In last night's debacle by the Bay, Athletics starting pitcher Brett Anderson was roughed up for 10 runs -- nine earned -- and 11 hits over 5 1/3 innings.

"You never like to put yourself behind the eight ball, but you try to put that behind you and go on to the next one," Anderson said after the loss. "It seems you face one guy, then another guy that's an All-Star, a potential Hall of Famer comes up. It's tough. It's another big league lineup you have to go through and try to battle your way through it, and I just didn't do a very good job of that tonight."

David DeJesus provided all the scoring for the A's with an RBI single in the third inning, followed by a two-run homer in the fifth inning. Mark Ellis and Andy LaRoche ended with two hits apiece for Oakland, which is 3-2 on a six- game homestand and will begin a 10-game road trip after today's tilt against the Red Sox, Orioles and White Sox.

Gio Gonzalez hasn't recorded a decision in back-to-back outings, but is still riding a five-start unbeaten streak with the A's going 4-1 in that span. He hopes to make it five wins in six tries when he faces the Yankees this afternoon and last appeared in Friday's 6-2 win over Baltimore, limiting the Orioles to two runs -- one earned -- in five innings of work.

The left-hander is 5-2 in 10 starts and lowered his earned run average to 2.17. Gonzalez, who is 3-1 in six trips to the Coliseum mound this season, is 1-2 in three career starts against the Yankees.

New York has dominated its matchup with the A's of late, winning nine of the 10 meetings last season and posting a 23-4 mark against them since the start of the 2008 campaign. New York has also won in 11 of its last 14 visits to Oakland.