Struggling Yankees no problem for A’s

Chad Gaudin became the latest pitcher to dominate the New York Yankees’ enigmatic offense, combining with Rich Harden on a one-hitter Saturday in the Oakland Athletics’ 7-0 victory.

Oakland homered three times against Kei Igawa, and the Yankees managed only Johnny Damon’s sixth-inning single.

Damon thought the Yankees hit some balls hard and were particularly unlucky, but catcher Jorge Posada was more critical of his team.

“Luck comes when you go after it. It seems like there are times we go through the motions, and today was one of those games,” Posada said. “I think everyone knows what I’m talking about.”

Jason Kendall, Shannon Stewart and Dan Johnson homered for the A’s, who won for only the second time in nine games and are 5-13 in their last 18 games.

“Everything was working good. I had a good rhythm, a good tempo,” Gaudin said after pitching seven crisp innings. “We’ve been having a tough little road trip, so this is a real positive.”

Did Gaudin have no-hitter-type stuff?

“He had one-hitter-type stuff,” Yankees captain Derek Jeter said. “He pitched well. That’s the bottom line.”

Next up for the Yankees is Oakland ace Dan Haren, who began the day leading the majors with a 1.91 earned-run average. He is 3-0 with a 3.11 earned-run average in six starts against the Yankees. “It doesn’t get any easier,” Damon said.