In just their 21st win of the year (reminder: it’s almost July), staff leader Paul Blackburn and the Oakland A’s bullpen put on a show against the team’s longtime enemy, the New York Yankees.
Starting with Blackburn, appearing in just his sixth game of the season, threw 90 pitches over 5 1⁄3 innings to secure the win. Throughout his outing, he displayed the All-Star command that we’ve come to expect from him, walking only one batter. Unfortunately, that last batter was his last before Mark Kotsay pulled him from the game. But prior to that point, he’d struck out 5 batters and only allowed 4 hits.