11 INNINGS A’s 3 Yankees 2
Since he reached his season high in strikeouts in the sixth inning, it was easy to see that David Cone’s precious right arm responded very well to six days of rest instead of the customary four. And it proved that Cone wasn’t lying when he insisted all week there was nothing physically wrong with the most-asked-about wing in New York. There was life on the fastball, action on the slider and bite in some of the splitters.
The only thing Cone didn’t walk away from Yankee Stadium with last night was a victory, something that also eluded the Yankees when A’s pinch-hitter Rich Becker singled home John Jaha for a 3-2 win in 11 innings.
Ramiro Mendoza absorbed the loss and fell 6-8. The Yankees had a four-game winning streak halted, fell to 81-50 and had their AL East lead over the Red Sox cut to 7½ games. They also fell into a tie with the Indians for the best record in the league which will determine home-field advantage in the playoffs.
Jason Isringhausen worked out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the 11th to post his second save by fanning Jorge Posada and inducing Luis Sojo to ground out to second baseman Randy Velarde.
Cone, who was punished by the Rangers for six runs and seven hits in 1″ innings in his last start, allowed two runs and five hits in 6″ innings and struck out 10. He gave up consecutive homers to Matt Stairs and Olmedo Saenz in the fourth that flushed a 2-0 lead, but not much else.
Based on the numbers across the past two years, Cone working with five or more days of rest has worked well. This year he is 7-4 with a 2.18 ERA. A year ago he was 11-2 with an ERA of 2.51 working on five or more days of rest. So, it’s not out of the question that Joe Torre will look to give Cone an extra day or two across the final month of the season.
Cone came within a pitch of working through the seventh inning but when he missed low with a 3-2 offering to Jaha that loaded the bases, Torre summoned Mike Stanton to face the left-handed mashing Stairs.
The problems started with Randy Velarde’s double to left-center that didn’t reach the warning track. Cone followed that by walking Jason Giambi intentionally. Ahead of Jaha, 1-2, Cone ran the count full trying to get the cleanup hitter to chase a pitch out of the strike zone. Finally, Cone walked Jaha to load the bases for Stairs.
Stanton jumped ahead, 1-2, and then got Stairs on a harmless pop to short right that Paul O’Neill handled to leave the bags juiced.
When Stanton walked Saenz on four pitches to start the eighth Mendoza surfaced to face Ryan Christenson, who was hitting for Ben Grieve. Christenson moved Saenz to second with a bunt before Miguel Tejada grounded to Luis Sojo at third. Ramon Hernandez was intentionally walked in front of Jason McDonald drawing a four-pitch walk that loaded the bases for Randy Velarde.
Mendoza got ahead of the former Yankee, 0-2, before getting him to chase a sinking fastball for the third strike.
He wasn’t so fortunate in the 11th when Becker singled softly to right and scored Jaha with the go-ahead run that made a winner out of slop-throwing Doug Jones (5-5).
Mendoza used the same sinker to fan Christenson with runners on second and third and two outs in the ninth.
The Yankees failed to convert a serious scoring chance in the eighth when Jones hit Chuck Knoblauch, threw wide of first trying to pick him off and walked Derek Jeter on a 3-2 pitch. But Jones responded by getting O’Neill on a pop to short, Bernie Williams on a fly to left and whiffing Tino Martinez.
A leadoff infield single by Knoblauch in the 10th was erased when Jeter, who attempted one sacrifice bunt, bounced into a 6-4-3 double play.
The A’s camp was divided on who would start last night. GM Billy Beane wanted Jimmy Haynes to face the team that had spanked the hard-throwing right-hander twice this season (0-2; 11.25 ERA) while manager Art Howe preferred using minor league lefty Ron Mahay. In fact, Mahay, who isn’t on the A’s 40-man roster, was flown in from Vancouver (Triple-A) and was at the A’s hotel yesterday.
But it was Haynes who held the Yankees to two runs across five innings and looked good doing it.
O’Neill’s first homer since Aug. 6, a stretch of 19 games, staked the Yankees to a 2-0 lead in the third inning. Jeter reached on a one-out single and scored ahead of O’Neill, who drove a 1-1 pitch over the wall in right-center for his 14th homer.