Yankees are relieved in victory over A’s

Jason Giambi homered with one out in the 13th inning and eight New York pitchers held Oakland scoreless for the final 12 innings of the Yankees’ 4-3 victory over the Athletics on Saturday night.

New York fell behind, 3-0, in the first when the A’s scored three unearned runs following an error by shortstop Derek Jeter. But New York rallied back and tied it on Jorge Posada’s pinch-hit run-scoring double with two out in the seventh inning to knock out starter Joe Blanton.

The score remained tied until Giambi’s homer to right-center against Lenny DiNardo (0-1) gave the Yankees their first lead of the game and ended their five-game losing streak against the A’s.

Brian Bruney (1-1), New York’s eighth pitcher of the game, threw two scoreless innings for the win a night after losing the game in the 11th inning. Seven relievers combined for 7 2/3 scoreless innings for the Yankees.

This marked the second time in the last three games that the A’s scored three runs in the first and failed to score again in a loss, following a 6-3 loss to the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday.

The Yankees had a chance to take the lead earlier in extra innings when they loaded the bases in the 10th. But Huston Street got out of the jam by getting Alex Rodriguez to pop to short.