Tanner Roark tossed 6 1/3 strong innings Thursday night for the host Oakland Athletics, who rode a three-run first inning to a 5-3 win over the New York Yankees and a sweep of the three-game series.

The Athletics, who began the day in a virtual tie with the Tampa Bay Rays for the second wild card spot in the American League, have won seven of eight. The Yankees were swept in a three-game series for the first time since the Houston Astros took three in a row Apr. 8-10. New York leads the Astros by one game in the race for the top overall seed in the AL.

Roark (8-8), making his fourth start since he was acquired from the Cincinnati Reds at the trade deadline, allowed two runs on seven hits and no walks while striking out seven. He is 2-1 with a 2.63 ERA for the Athletics.

Roark was chased after Gleyber Torres hit the first of his two homers. Jake Diekman got the final two outs of the eighth, Lou Trivino tossed a hitless eighth and Joakim Soria earned his first save despite allowing a two-out homer by Torres in the ninth.

The Athletics jumped out to a quick lead against Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka (9-7), who gave up a leadoff double to Marcus Semien before walking Robbie Grossman and Matt Chapman. Semien scored on Matt Olson's grounder, which forced Chapman, but Mark Canha followed with a two-run single.

The Athletics extended their lead to 5-0 in the third, when Grossman hit a leadoff triple and scored on Chapman's single. Chapman scored when Stephen Piscotty beat out the back end of a potential inning-ending double play.

Mike Tauchman delivered an RBI single in the fifth for the Yankees. Torres finished 4-for-4 and became just the second New York player to ever reach 30 homers in a season before turning 23, after Joe DiMaggio.

Tanaka allowed the five runs on eight hits and two walks while striking out five over six innings.

--Field Level Media