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		Sabathia and A-Rod beat A’s By Pearl Allison Lo July 6, 2010
	New York Yankees' Alex Rodriguez hits a single to drive in the go-ahead run during the third inning of the baseball game against the Toronto Blue Jays, Sunday, July 4, 2010, at Yankee Stadium in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
	With Alex Rodriguez’s hot bat backed by C.C. Sabathia’s flawless pitching, the New York Yankees cruised to an easy 6-1 victory over the Oakland Athletics. The A’s Trevor Cahill got the first five outs before New York took the game in the top of the third. The inning started pretty innocently. Jorge Posada got a leadoff single, but exchanged places with Curtis Granderson on a fielder’s choice. Small ball added up, however, as Colin Curtis then walked and Brett Gardner singled to load the bases. Derek Jeter then hit into a fielder’s choice, also scoring Granderson. Finally, after Mark Teixeira was hit by a pitch, loading the bases for the second time, Rodriguez provided the big blast with his first home run of the game, to bring all the runners back to the dugout with a 5-1 lead. In contrast, in the bottom of the third, Oakland’s Rajai Davis also led off with a single. However, Coco Crisp then hit into a double play and Daric Barton grounded out. Sabathia (11-3) won his seventh straight start, going 7.2 innings, giving up 7 hits, one run, three walks and striking out a season-high ten batters. Meanwhile, Cahill (8-3), who was almost on as hot a streak as Sabathia, seven wins interspersed with two no-decisions, went six innings, giving up 4 hits, six runs, one walk and struck out four. Going back to the first, Crisp used three different methods of getting around the bases, finishing with the help of a teammate. Crisp singled, stole second, took advantage of a wild pitch to get to third and ran home on Kevin Kouzmanoff’s double, to give a 1-0 lead. The A’s had the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth with two outs, but Barton struck out to end the inning. Cahill recovered well from the third inning debacle, obtaining the next eight outs before what preceded the eight outs happened again, as Rodriguez homered in the top of the sixth with one out. Game notes: Rodriguez’s two home runs in a game was a first for him so far in the season and his five RBIs one shy of his season-high. Cahill’s six earned runs matched his season-high. The conclusion of this three-game set begins Thursday at 7:05pm.