Despite shaky relief, Yanks top A's, 7-5

Even Mariano Rivera needs a little help from time to time.

Aided by some nifty defense by Mark Teixeira on a game-ending double play, the Yankees' closer escaped a jam of his own making Sunday and earned a four-out save in a 7-5 victory over the Oakland Athletics at Yankee Stadium.

It was the 25th save of the year for Rivera, 41, who has reached that plateau in 15 straight seasons. "That's one of those records I don't think someone will break," Joe Girardi said.

With one out in the ninth and the Yankees leading 7-4, Rivera allowed four straight singles to Jemile Weeks, Coco Crisp, Hideki Matsui and Josh Willingham. But with a run in and the bases loaded, David DeJesus lined a bullet at Teixeira, who easily doubled off pinch runner Ryan Sweeney at first to end the game.

A relaxed Rivera chalked up the four hits to the nature of the game, adding that aside from Willingham's single -- a liner to left that dropped in front of Brett Gardner, who was playing deep in no-doubles defense -- "the rest were just ground balls that found a way. Broken bats, find the holes. And that's the game. You can't get upset with that because all of a sudden, a line-drive double play."

Said Girardi, "Mo is real effective and we know he's not going to panic in those situations."

It was the first save of more than an inning this season for Rivera, who blew a four-out save April 24 against Baltimore and did not get a decision after tossing two innings June 16 against Texas. He has 584 career saves, 17 fewer than all-time leader Trevor Hoffman.

Rivera replaced David Robertson with two outs in the eighth, two runs in, runners at second and third and the Yankees leading 6-4 and needed only two pitches to retire Cliff Pennington on a grounder to second. Girardi said he would have used Cory Wade if Robertson had been replaced with only one out in the eighth.

Though he hasn't looked as sharp in recent years when asked to get four outs, Rivera said he doesn't mind the extra workload. "Regardless if it's four outs or three outs. One out. It doesn't matter what it is," he said. "I have to be ready for that, and I am."

Before Sunday, he hadn't allowed a run in 21 innings in 21 games at Yankee Stadium this season. As for his latest milestone, he said he doesn't pay attention to statistics.

"When you play for a team like the New York Yankees, you're going to have opportunities," he said. "Yeah, 25, it's good. But you know what? I just want to win ballgames."

The Yankees led 6-2 as Robertson replaced Bartolo Colon to begin the eighth. But none-out doubles by Crisp and Matsui (5-for-5) and a two-out double by Kurt Suzuki made it 6-4, put runners at second and third and knocked out Robertson.

"Not being able to finish the inning and having to cost Mo to come in an inning early, that weighed on my shoulders a little bit," said Robertson, whose ERA rose from 1.14 to 1.57. "I was pretty irritated with myself." He took out his fury on the dugout, repeatedly kicking backward with his spikes.

Said Girardi, "I told him after the game, 'Now I know you're human.' ''

Colon (7-6) got his first win since July 2, allowing two runs, eight hits and a walk in seven innings.

Russell Martin singled with two outs in the second, stole second and scored on Jones' single to pull the Yanks within 2-1. With two outs in the fourth, Gio Gonzalez (9-7) grazed Martin's right pants leg with a pitch and walked Jones on four pitches. Eduardo Nuñez made him pay, ripping a two-run double over leftfielder Willingham's head to put the Yankees up 3-2.

Curtis Granderson hit his team-leading 27th home run, a two-run shot into the second deck in rightfield in the fifth, to give the Yankees a 5-2 lead. A single by Teixeira and two-out singles by Martin and Jones later in the inning made it 6-2.

In the eighth, Nuñez singled, was sacrificed to second by Brandon Laird, stole third and got a great jump to score on Derek Jeter's hard grounder to short with the infield in, making it 7-4.