Rivera and Pettitte tie wins saved record

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
OAK	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	1	0		3	12	1
NYY	0	4	0	0	0	1	0	0	X		5	12	0

With Mariano Rivera saving today’s 5-3 victory over the Oakland Athletics, he now has saved 57 wins for Andy Pettitte, tying him with Bob Welch and Dennis Eckersley for the major league record.  Pettitte is now 2-0 on the season, and the Yankees are 8-6 overall.

The Yankees batted around in the second inning, scoring four runs and working A’s starter Dana Eveland hard.  Brett Gardner hit a two-run single through the drawn-in infield to get the Yankees on the board.  Two batters later, Johnny Damon drove in a run on a single and Mark Teixeira followed with an RBI single.

The A’s halved the lead in the fourth, after three consecutive singles loaded the bases with no outs.  Mark Ellis grounded into a fielder’s choice to drive in the Athletics’ first run.  Kurt Suzuki, who ended up going 4-for-4, hit an RBI single two batters later.

Pettitte finished with seven innings, allowing only two earned runs on nine hits.  He neither walked nor struck out a batter (ed. note: strange!).  Eveland gave up four earned runs on nine hits in four innings pitched.  He walked four and struck out three.

The Yankees extended their lead when Damon lined a solo home run to right.  However, Oakland was able to touch Brian Bruney in the eighth.  With two outs, Oakland put together a rally, culminating with Ellis’ RBI double.  However, Bruney induced an Eric Chavez line out to Robinson Cano to end the threat.

Rivera allowed a lead off single to Suzuki in the ninth, but retired the next three batters to end the game.

The Yankees are two games above .500 for the first time this season.  They’ll look to go three games above tomorrow afternoon with CC Sabathia on the hill.