The New York Yankees rallied to defeat the Oakland Athletics, 9-5, in the series opener on Monday night at Yankee Stadium.
New York trailed 5-1 after three innings as left-hander Jordan Montgomery struggled on the mound, allowing five runs all in the third with two outs. However, his offense was able to bail him out, something they didn’t do earlier this season. Montgomery ended up settling in and lasted 6 2/3 innings.
Anthony Rizzo opened the scoring in the first with his 20th home run of the season.
Ramon Laureano started the Athletics’ five-run third by hammering an RBI double off the top of the left-field wall. One batter later, Elvis Andrus drilled one into the left-field corner for a bases-clearing double. Sheldon Neuse capped off the inning by grounding one through the ride side for a run-scoring single.
Giancarlo Stanton crushed his 18th homer of the season into the left-field seats in the fourth to cut Oakland’s lead to three.
Aaron Judge brought the Yankees closer in the fifth with a run-scoring single.
New York trailed 5-3 going into the seventh and then put up a six-spot to take a 9-5 lead. The Yankees scored their first run of the inning on catcher’s interference and Stanton collected his second RBI of the night. Josh Donaldson followed that with a two-run double to give the Yankees a 6-5 lead. One batter later, Jose Trevino ripped a two-out two-run double to make it 8-5. Marwin Gonzalez capped off the inning with an RBI single.
Everyone in the starting lineup had at least a hit except for Joey Gallo and Aaron Hicks.
Albert Abreu tossed 2 1/3 innings in relief.
The Yankees will send JP Sears to the hill on Tuesday night for the second game of this three-game series. The first pitch is slated for 7:05 p.m.
Kyle leads sports coverage and hosts the Concrete Jungle podcast. Have a lead or question? Send it to [email protected].