Stanton 4 for 4 with HR in Yanks win
NEW YORK » Giancarlo Stanton went 4 for 4 with a home run and three RBIs, sending Luis Severino and the New York Yankees to a 6-2 victory over the Oakland Athletics after a long rain delay Sunday.
Severino (6-1) struck out seven in six innings as New York won for the 19th time in 22 games to remain tied with rival Boston for the best record in the majors at 28-12. Aaron Hicks drove in two runs, Aaron Judge extended his RBI streak to seven games and the Yankees took two of three from Oakland to win their seventh consecutive series.
After a 7-2 homestand, New York plays 19 of its next 25 games on the road.
Jed Lowrie had an RBI single and Mark Canha homered late for the A’s, who lost five of six during a difficult stretch against the Astros and Yankees — last year’s AL Championship Series participants. Things don’t get much easier, with three games in Boston and four at Toronto to follow.
The start was delayed for 2 hours, 45 minutes, leaving most seats empty at Yankee Stadium in a Mother’s Day crowd announced at 40,538. Both teams wore pink caps and other gear to support Major League Baseball’s breast cancer awareness initiative.
Brett Gardner’s infield single, Judge’s pop-fly double and a walk to slumping Didi Gregorius loaded the bases against Brett Anderson (0-2) with nobody out in the first inning. Stanton smacked a two-run single up the middle, and Hicks added an RBI single two outs later.
In the fifth, Stanton launched an opposite-field shot into the Yankees’ bull- pen in right-center, giving New York four players with at least 10 home runs just 40 games into the season. The slugger also singled in the third and doubled in the seventh to leave himonehit shy of 1,000.
Hicks beat out a potential double-play grounder in the seventh for his second RBI of the game. Judge singled home a run in the eighth.
Severino allowed one run and five hits. Hewas helped on defense by third baseman Miguel Andujar, who leaped to snag Canha’s line drive with two on for the final out of the fourth. Oakland slugger Khris Davis flied out to the center-field warning track with two on to end the fifth.
Chad Green, Dellin Betances and Chasen Shreve finished up for the Yankees. Betances reached behind his back to make a nifty grab of a comebacker.
Canha hit a solo homer in the ninth off Shreve, who retired pinch-hitter Jake Smolinski with two on to end it.
Making his third start of the season, Anderson was charged with four runs and eight hits in five innings. THINKING OF YOU During a pregame ceremony behind home plate, the Yankees donated $10,000 to the ALS Therapy Development Institute in memory of Gretchen Piscotty, the mother of A’s outfielder Stephen Piscotty. New York manager Aaron Boone and Oakland counterpart Bob Melvin posed for photos while holding an oversized check. Gretchen Piscotty died May 6 from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. There was a moment of silence for her before the first pitch, with her picture shownon the giant video board.