Facing a must-win game to keep their tournament hopes alive, the Yankees did what they had to do. Orlando Hernández scattered 8 hits, allowing 2 runs while striking out 9 to give New York the chance they needed. Oakland scored 1st with a sacrifice fly by Carney Lansford in the 3rd. After Scott Brosius singled, and Chuck Knoblauch walked to start the Yankee 3rd against Bob Welch, Derek Jeter struck out. Paul O’Neill followed with a liner into the gap that Lance Blankenship misread, leading to a bases-clearing triple to give New York the lead. A two-out single by José Canseco tied the game back up in the 5th. But Derek Jeter led off the bottom of the inning with a triple, scoring on O’Neill’s flyout. El Duque allowed a Mark McGwire single and a Walt Weiss double in between strikeouts, and walked Willie Randolph to load the bases. Mariano Rivera came in and struck out Terry Steinbach to end the inning. With 2 outs in the 9th, Rivera hit Lansford and walked Canseco to put the tying run in scoring position. McGwire bounced one back to the mound to end the game, giving the Yankees a 3-2 win. The teams will now face off in a Best-of-7 series to determine who will advance to face the 1998 Atlanta Braves in the 1990s World Series. Oakland will continue to be without Dave Henderson until late in the series. Blankenship’s defense in CF likely cost them a few runs today.