NY Yankees 8, Oakland 5

NEW YORK, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- Mike Mussina surrendered four runs and 11 hits over seven innings Sunday and that was good enough for the New York Yankees to avoid a three-game sweep with an 8-5 victory over the Oakland Athletics.

As has been the case most of the season, Mussina (14-6), the Yankees' leader in wins, received strong run support. New York snapped out of an offensive slump after being held to just two runs in the first two games of the series and none in the previous 17 innings.

The first four hitters in the Yankees' lineup were a combined nine for 16 with seven RBI and six runs scored.

Alfonso Soriano hit his 29th home run, leaving him just one shy of becoming the first second baseman in major league history to have 30 homers and 30 stolen bases in the same season. Soriano also is one homer away from tying the Yankees' record for a second baseman set by Joe Gordon in 1940.

Mussina, who walked one and struck out four, gave up double figures in hits for the third straight time and squandered a quick 3-0 lead by surrendering three runs in the top of the second.

In his last three outings, Mussina has allowed 16 runs and 36 hits over 17 innings.

But he did not give up the lead Sunday. He worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the second and got Terrence Long to ground into a pair of double plays after the Oakland center fielder blasted a game-tying, two-run homer into the upper deck in right field.

Oakland's Mark Mulder (13-7) surrendered eight runs -- seven earned -- and 11 hits over six innings.