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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
NEW YORK (AP) – One swing from Tino Martinez was all it took for
the New York Yankees to start feeling good about themselves again.
|  | | Tino Martinez's home run did wonders for the Yankees' flagging self-esteem. |
Martinez hit a tiebreaking home run in the sixth inning as the
Yankees came from behind to snap a three-game losing streak with a
3-2 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Friday night.
"It was a good win tonight," Martinez said. "We didn't panic when we fell behind. Having lost three in a row to Seattle before this, we just wanted to get back on track and have a good series against these guys."
With the game tied at 2, Martinez hit a 2-0 pitch from Mark Mulder (2-2) into the second deck in right field to give New York the lead in the teams' first meeting since the Yankees beat the A's in Game 5 to win last season's AL division series.
"I fell behind Tino, threw the ball down the middle and he hit it," Mulder said. "I made one mistake and it cost us the game."
Both teams have struggled early this season, with Oakland (8-15) in last place in the AL West, and the Yankees having lost eight of 11 to fall to .500 before beating the A's.
"We had lost three in a row and were down 2-0, but we showed
we're not going to just phone it in," Yankees manager Joe Torre
said. "That's encouraging."
Orlando Hernandez labored through five innings in his first
appearance for the Yankees since missing his last start because of
discomfort in his right elbow. El Duque, who threw 93 pitches,
allowed two runs and three hits and struck out a season-high six,
but showed signs of an eight-day layoff by walking five.
"I felt good. Maybe not 100 percent, but I felt good,"
Hernandez said through an interpreter. "Maybe there's a couple of
adjustments I have to make, but nothing bothers me."
Torre said Hernandez doesn't quite look like the El Duque of
past seasons yet, but he was encouraged by the performance.
"It looks like he's still feeling his way back," Torre said. "He threw all his pitches. I just have a sense that he's trying to find a comfort zone out there. The first step is that he doesn't come in tomorrow and says that the arm bothers him."
Randy Choate (2-0) struck out two and walked one in an inning of relief to pick up the win. Mariano Rivera got the last five outs for his fourth save in five opportunities. New York held Oakland to three hits.
"We got some good pitching and timely hitting," said reliever Mike Stanton, who struck out three in 1 1/3 innings. "That's been a pretty good equation for us, and hopefully this is the start of something good for us."
Trailing 2-0, the Yankees tied it in the fifth on RBI singles by Scott Brosius and Derek Jeter.
David Justice drew a one-out walk and moved to second on
Mulder's wild pitch. One out later, Brosius hit a soft broken-bat
single to center to score Justice. Chuck Knoblauch followed with an
infield single, and Jeter hit a grounder that went under shortstop
Miguel Tejada's glove to score Brosius from second with the tying run.
After striking out Eric Chavez to start the second inning,
Hernandez gave up an opposite-field homer to Tejada, his fifth, to
give the A's a 1-0 lead.
But an unfazed Hernandez came right back and struck out Jeremy
Giambi and Mario Valdez -- both looking.
The A's added another run in the third when Johnny Damon scored
on Terrence Long's bases-loaded groundout. Hernandez escaped
further trouble by striking out Chavez to strand two runners.
Mulder allowed three runs and eight hits, struck out six and
walked one in 6 1/3 innings.
"He pitched a strong game for us," A's manager Art Howe said.
"He gave us a chance to win. A broken-bat bloop started it for
them, but that's baseball."
Game notes
Martinez's homer was his fourth of the season. ... The
Yankees improved to 8-0 when leading after seven innings. ...
Hernandez is 4-0 with a 3.05 ERA in six career starts against
Oakland. ... Hernandez has expressed concern about the health of
his father, Arnaldo, back home in Cuba. He has been anxiously
awaiting updates on his father, who El Duque fears might have lung
cancer. He declined to discuss it after the game. ... Torre needs
one victory to become the sixth Yankees manager to win 500. He will
join Joe McCarthy (1,460), Casey Stengel (1,149), Miller Huggins
(1,067), Ralph Houk (944) and Billy Martin (556). ... The A's
dropped to 6-5 on their 13-game road trip -- their longest of the
season.
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OTHER GAMES
Baseball Scoreboard
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RECAPS
Boston 9
Kansas City 2
Texas 11
Cleveland 9
Detroit 4
Tampa Bay 2
NY Yankees 3
Oakland 2
Toronto 12
Anaheim 4
Seattle 8
Chi. White Sox 3
Minnesota 6
Baltimore 3
Florida 9
Houston 8
Montreal 6
Milwaukee 1
St. Louis 9
NY Mets 0
Cincinnati 12
Colorado 9
Atlanta 9
Arizona 0
Pittsburgh 3
San Diego 0
Chicago Cubs 7
San Francisco 3
Los Angeles 4
Philadelphia 3
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