Kendall Graveman tossed three-hit ball into the seventh inning and struck out eight, pitching the Athletics past the slumping Yankees 5-2 on Wednesday night.
Billy Burns had three hits, Khris Davis delivered a two-run single and the A's stayed perfect in five road games this season. The only major league team that is unbeaten away from home, they have won four straight overall following a four-game slide.
Burns and Chris Coghlan hit consecutive doubles off Nathan Eovaldi (0-2) to start a three-run fourth inning. Josh Reddick had an RBI single and Stephen Vogt added a sacrifice fly, but Oakland third baseman Danny Valencia strained his left hamstring when he was cut down at the plate on Aaron Hicks' rocket throw from medium-deep left field.
The throw from Hicks, a top-notch pitching and outfield prospect in high school, was clocked at 105.5 mph by Statcast, the fastest the system has recorded by an outfielder, according to Major League Baseball.
Without a backup infielder on his four-man bench, Oakland manager Bob Melvin moved Coghlan from second base to third and put designated hitter Jed Lowrie at second. That left the A's without a DH and forced Graveman into Valencia's cleanup spot.
So with a runner on second and two outs in the fifth, the Yankees intentionally walked Reddick to bring up Graveman for his first big league plate appearance. He managed one foul ball but struck out on three pitches, making him the first starting pitcher to bat at the current Yankee Stadium, which opened in 2009.
On the mound, Graveman (1-1) worked his way out of a first-inning jam and gave up only Didi Gregorius' solo homer in his first start at Yankee Stadium. The right-hander was obtained from Toronto in the November 2014 trade that sent reigning AL MVP Josh Donaldson to the Blue Jays.
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Carlos Beltran also homered for the Yankees, the first hit off A's reliever Ryan Dull in eight innings this season. New York, struggling mightily with runners in scoring position, has dropped six of seven and mustered only 15 runs during that stretch.
Sean Doolittle pitched a scoreless ninth for his second save, and the A's improved to 15-6 against the Yankees since the start of 2013 — the best record by an AL team vs. New York during that period.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Athletics: INF Eric Sogard had surgery on his left knee and is likely to be sidelined at least another six weeks. Dr. James Andrews performed a patellar tendon debridement procedure in Florida. Sogard, who started 87 games at second base last year, went on the disabled list with a cervical strain at the end of spring training. ... RHP Henderson Alvarez, recovering from right shoulder surgery last July 28, was scheduled to throw three innings or about 45 pitches for Class A Stockton in an injury rehabilitation assignment. ... Lowrie began the game as the DH to give him a little breather, but didn't get much time off his feet. "Every time I try to get him a day off he ends up in the game anyway," Melvin said before the game. "He hasn't gotten a day off yet. We'll call this hopefully half of one for him."
Yankees: Brett Gardner was scratched from the lineup with a stiff neck and replaced in left field by Hicks, who batted ninth. Starlin Castro moved up to Gardner's No. 2 spot in the lineup. Hicks also played Tuesday against a left-hander and could be in line for another start Thursday night against LHP Rich Hill.
UP NEXT
Athletics: Hill (1-2, 4.15 ERA) makes his fourth start for Oakland in the series finale Thursday night. He has 19 strikeouts in 13 innings. New York had trouble against left-handed pitching last season and is 0-3 in games started by southpaws this year.
Yankees: RHP Luis Severino (0-2, 5.91 ERA) looks to get on track in his third start of the year after going 5-3 with a 2.89 ERA as a 21-year-old rookie last season.
