OAKLAND, Calif. — Lost in the brilliance of All-Stars Andy Pettitte, CC Sabathia and Phil Hughes and the struggles of A.J. Burnett lives Javier Vazquez.
A huge story for the first six weeks of the season when he was pitching poorly and being skipped in the rotation, the veteran right-hander is quietly putting together exactly the type of season the Yankees hoped he would provide when they acquired him from the Braves to be their fifth starter.
While the three All-Stars have reached double-digit win totals, Vazquez evened his ledger last night by beating the A’s 3-1 in front of 27,405 at the Coliseum.
The victory pushed Vazquez’s record to 7-7 and was his first since beating the Astros on June 12. A .500 mark might not look like much compared to the All-Stars, all of whom have 10 wins, but considering Vazquez opened the season 1-4 with an 8.10 ERA and was skipped a start against the Red Sox in Boston, it’s major progress.
“At first it was bad and I started to pitch better,” Vazquez said of the first half of his second stint in pinstripes. “At least I have made some improvement.”
In seven innings, Vazquez allowed a run, three hits, walked two and fanned two.
“It’s a tale of two halves,” manager Joe Girardi said of Vazquez’s first half. “The first one was quite rough and the second he has pitched pretty good. It’s like night and day. He has thrown the ball extremely well since he was skipped a start.”
Joba Chamberlain, who Girardi said has experienced “hiccups” this season, worked a perfect eighth when he registered two strikeouts looking and Mariano Rivera rebounded from a rare blown save Sunday to post his 19th save in 21 attempts with a 1-2-3 ninth.
Mark Teixeira continued his torrid hitting with a solo homer in the sixth off Ben Sheets that extended the Yankees’ lead to 3-1. Teixeira opened the game having hit in 21 of the previous 24 tilts and batting .322 (29-for-90) in that stretch with five homers and 19 RBIs.
The Yankees’ third straight victory enabled them to stay two games ahead of the Rays, who moved past the Red Sox into second place in the AL East. Last night the Rays beat the Red Sox, who trail by 2½ lengths.
Eighty-two games into the season, Girardi’s team is 51-31 and has the best record in baseball. Yet . . .
“I think we can play better than we have played,” Girardi said. “I am happy with how hard we have played but I believe we can get better.”
Having thrown 101 pitches in six innings, Vazquez was sent to the mound to start the seventh. That may have been a combination of him throwing well and Girardi not trusting his middle-innings relievers.
“You go with the guys you have and sometimes you make a move,” Girardi said of trying to straighten out Chan Ho Park, David Robertson and Chamberlain. “If you continue to struggle, you might be quicker to make a move.”
Vazquez kept the bullpen out of play by working a 1-2-3 seventh that included a sliding catch by Curtis Granderson in short center and Colin Curtis’ diving catch for the final out in right.
“It was unbelievable,” Vazquez said of the defense behind him that included a brilliant stop by Alex Rodriguez in the sixth. “Especially those two catches by Curtis and Colin, they were huge.”