Luke Voit plays hero in Yankees' win over A's

by Felix Pantaleón

Yankees first baseman Luke Voit crushed a go-ahead solo home run in the eighth inning of a 5-1 win over the A’s in Oakland on Tuesday night.

OAKLAND — Luke Voit thumped his barrel chest with his fist and yelled into the dugout.

There’s a professional wrestling showmanship to Voit’s game. And his mighty swing in the eighth inning bodyslammed the A’s while tightening his headlock on the Yankees’ starting first baseman job.

Voit’s solo shot to left field off reliever Fernando Rodney put the Yankees ahead for good in a 5-1 victory at Oakland-Alameda Coliseum on Tuesday night.

It was his third home run in as many games and seventh since joining the Yankees at the trade deadline for Voit, who also greeted third base coach Phil Nevin with a forearm smash as he rounded third base.

With Greg Bird mired in a deep funk and Voit producing, the job is likely the 27-year-old’s to lose for the rest of September. Four of Voit’s last five hits have been bombs. Five of Voit’s seven Yankees home runs have either tied the game or give them the lead, according to researcher Katie Sharp.

The home run backed up J.A. Happ, who provided six strong innings against Oakland, who tried a bullpen day and nearly succeeded.

The Yankees got an insurance run when Aaron Hicks singled home Gardner later in the inning, and another when defensive replacement Adeiny Hechavarria clubbed a solo homer in the eighth. Gardner singled home Gary Sanchez in the eighth, too.

What it means

The win snapped a two-game Yankees losing streak. They have won 6 of their last 10 games.

They extended their lead on the A’s in the race for the top American League Wild Card spot to 4 1/2 games. They can turn it into 5 1/2 with a win in Wednesday’s series finale.

Tying it up

Ex-Mets reliever Jeurys Familia loaded the bases with Yankees with no outs in the seventh, but they were only able to get a run out of it.

Familia walked Aaron Hicks in a full count to bring home Brett Gardner and make it 1-all. Gardner had started the inning with a single before Giancarlo Stanton singeld and Andrew McCutchen drew a full-count walk to set the stage for Hicks.

But Miguel Andujar and Gary Sanchez each struck out swinging before Neil Walker popped foul to end the threat.

Happ-y

Happ rebounded from his rough previous start to hold down the A’s for much of the night.

Stephen Piscotty’s home run on the second pitch of a second-inning at-bat to center field gave the A’s a 1-0 lead that would last until the Yankees’ near rally in the seventh.

For six innings, Happ was great. He was efficient. He attacked. He struck out five while giving up just a walk and one base hit … until sitting for a long seventh inning and giving up a single. Robertson replaced him.

Inspired acting

With two outs in the sixth inning, a Ryan Buchter fastball went over Brett Gardner’s head. Gardner ducked to get out of the way and the ball ricocheted off to the distance.

Gardner acted like he got hit in the helmet and walked to first base. A Yankees trainer even checked on him at the bag. But replays showed the ball clearly hit Gardner’s bat and didn’t even come that close to his head.

Bullpen bullies

The A’s bullpened the Yankees into the ground for the first six innings, retiring the minimum 18 batters despite two errors and a hit.

Opener Liam Hendriks threw a clean first inning before giving way to Daniel Mengden, who sports a Catfish Hunter mustache.

Mengden held the Yankees down for 4 2/3 innings, striking out three and giving up just a hit — and a few hard liners to right field that might have been close to going out at Yankee Stadium.

After Buchter got an out in relief of Mengden, the A’s turned to Familia.

Injury report

Aaron Judge (fractured right wrist) hit off a tee for the second straight day and didn’t feel pain, Boone said.

Didi Gregorius (bruised left heel) took grounders and ran the bases. He remains on track for the team to activate him from the disabled list in Seattle this weekend.

Aroldis Chapman (left knee tendinitis) threw on flat ground and walked on the treadmill.

Next

Yankees righty Luis Severino (17-6, 3.32 ERA) vs. A’s righty Mike Fiers (10-6, 3.38 ERA) at 10:05 p.m. EST Wednesday at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.

Brendan Kuty may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.