In his first appearance since the All-Star game, Mariano Rivera surrendered a run in the ninth to the Oakland A's. He entered with the scored tied at two. Jack Hannahan looped a single to left and pinch runner Raja Davis stole second. Rookie Ryan Sweeney took an outside pitch right down the third base line to score Davis and give the A's the lead at 3-2. Sweeney stole second off Posada who is clearly having trouble throwing. Mo toughened and struck out Suzuki swinging and Cust and Gonzalez looking to end the inning.
The Yankees looked like they would pull a rock in the bottom of the ninth. Jason Giambi led off with a walk off A's closer Huston Street and Justin Christian was inserted as a pinch runner. He got a good jump and probably would have stolen second but fell down between first and second and was eventually tagged out. With two outs, Robinson Cano delivered a double to left center and Wilson Betemit came up big with a single to left with two strikes on him, tying the game.
The Yankees had several chances to win in extra innings but couldn't get the big hit when they needed it. In the 12th, Derek Jeter led off with a single and was pushed to second on a swinging bunt from Bobby Abreu. The replay at first showed that Abreu was clearly safe but the Yankees didn't get the call. A-Rod and Sexson walked to load the bases and it was up to Jose Molina. Molina worked the count and eventually was hit by a pitch to force the run in and win the game for the Yankees at 4-3.
Rivera is 4-3 on the season with 23 saves and his ERA now stands at 1.25.
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