Gary Sanchez continued his tear with a go-ahead two-run double in the sixth inning off a dominating Sean Manaea and the New York Yankees turned a game-ending triple play to hold on for a 2-1 victory over the Oakland Athletics Sunday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.
The Yankees won for the seventh time in 11 games since being swept in a three-game series at home by the Boston Red Sox two weeks ago.
Manaea (6-3) entered the sixth with a two-hit shutout but put two on with one out and committed a balk.
Manaea got ahead in the count on Sanchez but the catcher reached out over the plate and lifted an outside 0-2 sinker into the right-center field gap to easily score Frazier and Judge for a 2-1 lead.
Sanchez had two hits off Manaea while hitting third for the second straight game and is hitting .315 (17-for-54) in 15 games this month.
Three innings after Sanchez’s clutch hit, the Yankees turned their third triple play of the season — all in the last month to preserve Aroldis Chapman’s 16th save in 18 chances.
Chapman threw nine of his first 10 pitches out of the strike zone but Sean Murphy hit a grounder to third baseman Gio Urshela. Urshela stepped on third base for the first out, threw to second base and then second baseman DJ LeMahieu threw to first baseman Chris Gittens to easily complete the unique sequence.
Manaea allowed two runs and three hits in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out a career-high 11 and walked two but took his first loss in seven starts since May 13 against the Boston Red Sox.
Manaea joined Washington’s Max Scherzer and Chicago White Sox lefty Carlos Rodon as the third starter to get double-digit strikeouts against the Yankees this year.
Matt Olson homered in the first for Oakland, which did little against New York left-hander Jordan Montgomery and lost for only the fourth time in 17 games this month.
Montgomery allowed one run on three hits in 5 1/3 innings. Jonathan Loaisiga (7-2) followed with 1 2/3 scoreless innings and Lucas Luetge survived a one-out triple to Matt Chapman by retiring Olson and Ramon Laureano to end a scoreless eighth.
–Field Level Media