Andy Pettitte vs Tim Hudson
A's 6, Yankees 5 (17 innings)
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| Walk off pinch hit in 17th inning |
Andy Pettitte, the winningest pitcher in post season history, was cruising. After 6 shutout innings by Pettitte the Bronx Bombers held a solid 4-0 lead over the A's. Robbie Cano's solo blast in the top of the 6th broke a scoreless deadlock. Jason Giambi singled home Johnny Damon to make it 2 nothing. Jorge Posada singled home Abreu and Matsui to stake Andy to a 4-0 lead. The bottom of the 7th would not be as kind to Pettitte and the Yanks as the first 6 innings. Oakland's dormant bats erupted for 5 huge runs. Eric Chavez led off the inning with a bleeder that rolled just past Cano's glove in the 3-4 hole. Dye flew out to right for the first out. Saenz doubled to right center to put runners on 2nd and 3rd. Terrence Long singled home Chavez with the slow footed Saenz staying put on 3rd. Hernandez lined a double down the left field line to score Saenz and Long to make it 4-3 with 1 out. Johnny Damon hit a long fly ball that chased Abreu back to the base of the wall for the second out of the inning. Britton, who replaced Pettitte grooved one to Frankie Menechino, who hit it 343 feet to the cheap seats to give Oakland a 5-4 lead. New York would knot the game up in the top of the 8th when Giambi, who led the inning off with a walk, scored on Jeter's 5-4-3 double play ball. That would be if for the scoring in regulation. Starting with the 9th inning and running all the way to the top of the 17th neither team could find a way to get that go ahead run across the plate. Tension was mounting in what officially became the longest KOD playoff game in league history. New York would burn through 7 pitchers with Phil Hughes pitching the 16th and the fateful 17th. Oakland would one up the Bombers by using 8 hurlers. Mike Magnante would be the 8th and final pitcher on the day for the A's and be the right man in the right place to notch the win. In the bottom of the 17th Hughes served up a lead off double to Eric Chavez. Dye was given and intentional pass to create a force around the horn. In a surprise move Jeremy Giambi attempted to bunt both runners up, but only succeeded in moving up Chavez thanks to A-Rod making a great charging play to peg Dye at second. With runners on the corners Long was walked to load the bases and reinstate the force play on all the bases. Pinch Hitter Billy McMillon lined a shot to left to easily score "Chavie" to give Oakland the walk off extra inning win.
Oakland leads series 1-0
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