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A's send Colon to mound in opener with Yankees

Jun 11, 2013 - 2:31 PM (Sports Network) - Bartolo Colon tries to stay hot on Tuesday when the Oakland Athletics open a three-game series against the New York Yankees at the O.co Coliseum.

Colon, of course, is among a number of players being investigated for their involvement with Biogenesis of America, the anti-aging clinic that allegedly supplied performance-enhancing drugs. It was just last season that the former American League Cy Young Award winner served a 50-game suspension after testing positive for synthetic testosterone.

But, the latest allegations haven't affected the burly right-hander, as he is 4-0 with a 0.90 ERA over his last four starts. After back-to-back scoreless outings, Colon surrendered just a run in seven innings to Milwaukee on Wednesday to improve to 7-2 on the year to go along with a 3.14 ERA.

Colon walked a season-high two batters in the win, but has only issued six free passes in 77 1/3 innings this season.

"Sometimes against teams that are really aggressive, you almost want to tell him, 'Hey, you could throw a ball every now and then,'" Oakland manager Bob Melvin continued. "But there's so much movement on his ball that even aggressive swingers, when they start their swing path, the ball moves so much that even when they're aggressive and swinging at strikes, it's not on the barrel off the bat."

Colon, who pitched the 2011 season in New York, lost to the Yankees back on May 4 and is 4-7 lifetime against them with a 6.16 ERA in 16 games (15 starts).

Oakland returns home tonight after going 4-3 on a seven-game road trip. The A's dropped the final two legs of the trek in Chicago, including a 4-2 setback to the White Sox on Sunday.

Losing for just the fifth time in its last 23 games, Oakland saw starter A.J. Griffin (5-5) surrender all four runs on seven hits over 7 1/3 innings, while Coco Crisp had a solo homer and Yoenis Cespedes recorded two of the Athletics' five hits in the setback.

New York, meanwhile, kicked off its 10-game road trip in winning fashion this weekend by taking three of four from the Seattle Mariners. On Sunday, Chris Stewart delivered a tie-breaking RBI single with two outs in the top of the ninth inning that gave the Yankees a 2-1 win.

Stewart finished with two hits and Brett Gardner went 4-for-5 with a run- scoring single in the victory, the sixth in seven contests for the Yankees.

David Robertson (4-1) received the win after working a scoreless bottom of the eighth, with Mariano Rivera protecting the one-run lead in the ninth to earn the save in the retiring closer's final scheduled appearance in Seattle.

New York stands a good chance at staying in the win column on Tuesday as Bay Area native CC Sabathia takes the hill eyeing a third consecutive victory. Sabathia went the distance to beat Cleveland on Wednesday, as he allowed four runs, seven hits and struck out nine to up his record to 6-4 on the year to go along with a 3.74 ERA.

"He looked real good. He had no-hit stuff," said Gardner, the American League's reigning Player of the Week. "He looked really good. The final line, he gave up four runs, but I thought he pitched great."

Sabathia lost to the A's back on May 3 and is just 8-9 lifetime versus them with a 4.50 ERA in 26 starts.

Oakland took two of three from the Yankees earlier in the season.