Yanks Surge By A's In 9th

Tino Martinez's RBI double off the right-field wall broke a ninth-inning tie and led the New York Yankees to a 5-3 win over the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday night.

Martinez's one-out double off Doug Jones (3-4) came after Bernie Williams singled and Chili Davis walked. Ricky Ledee followed Martinez's decisive hit with a run-scoring double down the left-field line.

Williams hit a three-run homer in the seventh to give the Yankees a 3-2 lead, but the A's tied the score in the bottom of the inning when Watson, the fourth New York pitcher of the inning, threw a pitch about 10 feet over the plate.

Williams, who has 20 RBIs in his last nine games, hit his 20th homer of the season one out after Chuck Knoblauch and Derek Jeter opened the seventh with singles.

The Yankees had just one runner off Gil Heredia in the first six innings, an infield single by Williams leading off thsecond.

Ben Grieve hit his 19th homer for the A's, a solo shot in the second that went an estimated 440 feet to center field. Jason Giambi had a sacrifice fly in the first.

Heredia, who has not lost since June 10, allowed three runs on four hits in seven innings. He has won his last six decisions.

Yankees starter Orlando Hernandez allowed three runs on six hits and five walks in 6 1-3 innings. In his previous start, he lasted just one-third of an inning at Seattle.

The game featured a bench-clearing incident in the first inning after Oakland's Tony Phillips barreled into New York catcher Jorge Posada while trying to score from second on a single by Randy Velarde.

Posada held on to tag Phillips out, and then punched the air with his fist. It was unclear whether Posada was celebrating the out or gesturing toward Phillips, who immediately began arguing with the catcher. Both benches emptied, but no punches were thrown.

The incident came five days after the Yankees brawled at Seattle.

Notes