Mariano Rivera earned his 29th save of the season and 511th of his career on Sunday afternoon in the Bronx. The Yankees defeated the Oakland Athletics 7-5 to complete a 9-1 record on the homestand and extend their lead in the AL East back to 2 1/2 games over the Red Sox who lost at home to the Orioles.

The save for Mo was his 25th consecutive of the season and 24th in a row at home. The Yankees fell behind 2-0 in the first inning but came right back for a four spot with Robinson Cano's base clearing double being the key hit in the inning.

The A's battled all day and had the lead at 5-4 on a two run home run off the bat of Mark Ellis. The Yankees battled back with Derek Jeter getting a key two run single to get the lead back and then scratching out one more run to extend the lead to two.

Phil Hughes pitched a perfect seventh inning but ran into trouble in the eighth by walking his first batter since entering the bullpen and then giving up a double to Daric Barton to put runners on 2nd and third with only one out. Girardi called on Bruney for one batter and he was able to strike out Mark Ellis for the second out.

Mo then entered and faced Nomar Garciaparra pinch hitting for Eric Patterson. Mo got him to ground back to the mound to end the inning.

In the ninth the A's had no chance. Adam Kennedy struck out looking and Orlando Cabrera struck out swinging on an outside cutter tfor two quick outs. Scott Hairston then grounded out to third to end the game.

Rivera is now 1-2 on te season with 29 saves in 30 save opportunities and his ERA now stands at 2.11.

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