Yet again, the 1998 New York Yankees found themselves playing from behind. Thanks to some key base hits, the 1990 Oakland Athletics took a 4-2 lead into the 7th. Paul O’Neill’s RBI single cut the lead, but Andy Pettitte tired in the 8th, allowing back-to-back hits to lead off the inning. Both runners would score to push the Oakland lead to 6-3. Jorge Posada hit a solo home run to get one run closer in the bottom of the inning. Dennis Eckersley came in to close things out in the 9th, but gave up a leadoff homer to Derek Jeter. He quickly retired O’Neill on a groundout and struck out Bernie Williams. Down to their last out, Tino Martinez singled. Shane Spencer came in to pinch-hit for a struggling Darryl Strawberry. Spencer drilled the next pitch into the gap to tie the game. The Yankees got two perfect innings of relief from Hideki Irabu. Jeter opened the bottom of the 11th with a double off Rick Honeycutt. O’Neill grounded out, and Bernie Williams was intentionally walked to set up a double-play. Martinez came through again with a liner for the walk-off hit, giving the Yankees a 7-6 win to start off the Best-of-7 series. Martinez finished 4 for 5 with 3 RBI. Terry Steinbach was 3 for 4 and drove in 4 of Oakland’s 6 runs. Irabu is now 2-1 with a 0.96 ERA in relief during the Tournament.