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OAKLAND, Calif. - As Travis Hafners drive carried toward the high wall in left-centre what had been a six-run lead for Oakland no longer seemed so safe anymore. The Athletics were able to catch their breath once Seth Smith jumped to make the catch to seal a 6-4 win over CC Sabathia and the New York Yankees on Tuesday night. "With the career hes had anytime he connects with the barrel its obviously going to be a scary moment," catcher Derek Norris said. "Hes got tremendous power and hes a monster, hes huge. Anytime a guy like that you hear a barrel you know it could be scary. Fortunately for us Seth made a great play and that good old marine layer made the ball go down a little bit." Norris homered and drove in four runs, Coco Crisp hit a leadoff homer and Bartolo Colon (8-2) pitched six scoreless innings to lead the As to their eighth win in 11 games. Oakland (39-27) has its best record after 66 games since 1992. It didnt come easy after the Yankees scored twice in the eighth and twice in the ninth to bring up Hafner as the tying run with a man on first. His drive off Grant Balfour through the thick night air in Oakland died at the fence. "To me it was never going out," said Balfour, who recorded his 16th save in as many chances. "It was just a matter of does it go off the wall a little too high and then its a double. That was the only thing I was worried about. I was never worried about it going out." Sabathia (6-5) allowed six runs and eight hits in six innings in his homecoming start in front of many fans that came from his hometown of nearby Vallejo to watch him pitch. "He made mistakes, and you cant make mistakes at this level," manager Joe Girardi said. "If you do, sometimes youre going to get away with them but most of the time youre not." The As did get some bad news when star outfielder Yoenis Cespedes had to leave the game after the second inning with tightness in his left hamstring. He is day to day. Cespedes appeared to hurt himself running out a groundout in the first inning. Crisp also played through a sore right heel. Colon pitched out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the first inning and then didnt allow another runner to reach second base. He allowed three hits and a season-high four walks to improve to 5-0 with a 0.75 ERA over his past five starts. "Hes been unbelievable really for us," Balfour said. "Hes a veteran guy and hes leading the way for us. Hes showing the younger guys, Hey Im out here and Im still doing it. Just watching the way he goes about his business hes a true professional. Hes been doing it a long time and is very successful at doing it. Were lucky to have him." Norris was coming off an 0-for-13 road trip and was hitless in 14 straight at-bats before delivering the most productive game of his career. He blooped a two-out RBI double down the right-field line in the second that scored Josh Reddick from first when Lyle Overbay misplayed the ball in his fourth career game in right field. Norris then added the big blow in the fourth inning when he drove a first pitch from Sabathia over the wall in left-centre for a three-run homer that made it 5-0 and gave Norris a career-high four RBIs. The As added a run in the sixth when Josh Donaldson doubled and scored on a wild pitch. The poor outing left Sabathia with a 5.30 ERA in 14 career starts in Oakland. Thats his highest ERA in any active American League park. "The changeup was up and flat, the two-seamer I was yanking down the middle," Sabathia said. "It was just a combination of everything not being sharp." New York scored twice in the eighth off Jerry Blevins and could have had more except right fielder Josh Reddick made a nice running catch to track down a liner toward the line by Travis Hafner. Mark Teixeira added a two-run single in the ninth before Smiths catch ended it. The Yankees threatened in the first inning when they took advantage of two rare walks by Colon to load the bases with one out. But Colon escaped the threat with no damage when he got Kevin Youkilis to foul out to first base and Lyle Overbay to foul out to left field. "We got to make him pay," Overbay said. "We let him off the hook and that kind of gave him some momentum and we couldnt get it back." New York then found itself trailing two pitches into the bottom half when Crisp his third leadoff homer of the season and 11th in his career to make it 1-0. NOTES: The national anthem was played by the marching band from Solano Middle School, the school Sabathia attended for junior high. ... Girardi said he hopes SS Derek Jeter will be cleared Thursday by doctors to begin full rehab of his injured ankle. ... Dan Straily (3-2, 4.67 ERA) pitches for Oakland in the second game of the series against Phil Hughes (3-4, 4.80).Discount Basketball Shoes . Pirlo limped out of Sundays 1-0 win over Udinese after just 13 minutes. Juventus says Pirlo underwent tests on Monday which revealed he has "a second-degree lesion to the collateral medial ligament in his right knee. Basketball Shoes From China .J. -- New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz will miss the rest of the season after having surgery on his left knee. https://www.cheapbasketballshoesstore.com/ .J. -- Marty Brodeur beat the Pittsburgh Penguins yet again. Basketball Shoes 2020 . Los Angeles star goalie survived those perilous gymnastics with no problem, and he eventually backstopped the Kings to a skid-snapping win. Quick stopped 27 shots in his return from a 24-game injury absence, Jeff Carter scored the tiebreaking goal with 7:55 to play, and the Kings snapped their five-game losing streak with a 3-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night. Basketball Shoes Sale . A big centre with all the tools to be an elite player, Johansen paced the Blue Jackets with a standout game Saturday night. He had a goal and two assists for a career-high three points as Columbus beat the New York Islanders 5-2 to snap a five-game losing streak.CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- London Perrantes knew he wasnt playing well, and if he had any doubt whatsoever, coach Tony Bennett let him know.I got after him, Bennett said Wednesday night after Perrantes scored 15 of his 19 points in the second half and No. 7 Virginia overcame a sloppy performance and rallied past Ohio State 63-61 on Wednesday night in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. I did, and he responded.Perrantes, who had three turnovers by halftime, hit three 3-pointers in the second half to spark the Cavaliers surge.I knew I wasnt playing to the best of my ability or even anywhere close, the senior point guard and four-year starter said. Im glad he kind of got into me. Thats the most I got ripped by him since Ive been here and it sparked us all.Devon Hall added 12 points for the Cavaliers (7-0), who trailed by as many as 16 points in the first half and didnt take the lead for good until Marial Shayoks baseline runner made it 59-57 with 1:58 remaining.The Buckeyes (6-1) trailed 63-61 when Shayok missed two free throws with 10.5 seconds left. Coach Thad Matta called a timeout with 6.5 seconds to play, but JaQuan Lyle couldnt find an open teammate as the clock ran down and launched a 3-point try that missed badly.I hope we take a lot from it because I told them after the game, `Were close, but were not there yet, Matta said.As the Cavaliers rallied in the second half and the crowd whipped into a frenzy, the Buckeyes hurt their chances with 11 of their season-high 20 turnovers, some of them more caused by carelessness than pressure from Virginia, and they almost all proved costly.As great teams do, they capitalized on every mistake we made down the stretch, Matta said.JaeSean Tate led Ohio State with 14 points and Lyle had 12.BIG PICTUREOhio State: The Buckeyes are knocking on the door of the Top 25 with only one senior on their roster in forward Marc Loving, their third-leading scorer. Matta has lots to work with, especially in Tate, an atthletic, and impressive sophomores C.ddddddddddddJ. Jackson and Lyle, and win or lose, tight games in packed arenas like John Paul Jones Arena can only help Ohio State as it moved toward play in the rugged Big Ten.Virginia: Its when outside shots arent falling that the Cavaliers will most miss forward Austin Nichols, a transfer from Memphis who was eligible this season, but was kicked off the team after the second game for a violation of team rules. Nichols was not only a gifted inside scorer, but a rebounder and rim-protector on defense and when the Buckeyes drove mercilessly to the basket in the first half, Virginia had no answer, getting outscored 22-4 in the paint in the half. Virginia closed the margin after the break, and finished trailed 32-18 in the paint.SPARKPLUGThe Buckeyes Jackson found his stroke, hitting three 3-pointers in four tries. He came into the game 1 of 11 from beyond the arc.UNSUNG HEROVirginias Darius Thompson scored just four points, but both baskets came during an 11-0 run to begin the second half, turning a 36-24 halftime deficit into a 36-35 Buckeyes lead. Thompson finished with three rebounds, three assists, three blocks and two steals.HE SAID ITI told him, `Last year it was Brogdon. This year its you. -- Matta on a postgame exchange with Perrantes, the Cavaliers unquestioned leader who has assumed the role occupied last season by Malcolm Brogdon, now with the Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA.UP NEXTOhio State returns home to face Fairleigh Dickinson on Saturday and then Florida Atlantic before playing host to Connecticut next Saturday.Virginia faces its third Power Five conference school in four games when No. 25 West Virginia visits John Paul Jones Arena on Saturday.---More AP college basketball: http://collegebasketball.ap.org---Follow Hank on Twitter: www.twitter.com/hankkurzjr ' ' '