A's Take Four Straight From Yankees OAKLAND - It had been nine years since the Yankees were swept in a four-game series by any team, and 40 years since they allowed the Oakland Athletics to do it. But those streaks came to an abrupt end Sunday, when the surprising and stubborn A's came from behind to stun the Yankees, 5-4 in 12 innings, and complete the sweep. It was the first time the Athletics had ever swept the Yankees in a four-game set at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. Two outs from defeat, the Athletics evened the score on Seth Smith's bases-empty home run off Rafael Soriano, the closer who has been effective all year. Then, with one out in the bottom of the 12th, Coco Crisp hit a game-winning single to right field off Cody Eppley to score Derek Norris from second base. Norris had reached on a sharp grounder that Derek Jeter could not catch backhanded, and he was sacrificed to second before he scored. It was all set up by Smith's homer off Soriano in the ninth. Smith hit a 3-1 pitch that barely cleared the wall in dead center, and the A's had life. It was only the second save opportunity Soriano had blown in 26 attempts since he took over for the injured Mariano Rivera in May. The Yankees came to Oakland on Thursday with a 10-game lead in the American League East, but limped off to Seattle with that lead slashed to six games because the Baltimore Orioles beat the Cleveland Indians on Sunday for their fifth consecutive win. The Athletics won for the 14th time in 16 games and remained in a tie for one of the American League wild-card spots. The last time the A's took a four-game series from the Yankees was at Yankee Stadium in 1972, the year the A's won their first World Series with Reggie Jackson, Vida Blue and Catfish Hunter. The Yankees had not been swept in a four-game series by any opponent since the Blue Jays swept them in May 2003. C. C. Sabathia, one day removed from his 32nd birthday, was the perfect pitcher to have on the mound Sunday. Since joining the Yankees in 2009, he was 4-1 with a 3.93 earned run average in five starts when the Yankees were facing a sweep. He went seven innings and gave up three runs on six hits, including a pair of bases-empty home runs by Brandon Inge and Kurt Suzuki in the fifth inning. He walked off the mound with a 4-3 lead, but the bullpen was not up to the challenge. Soriano blew his first save since June 10 against the Mets, a game the Yankees came back to win on Russell Martin's home run in the bottom of the ninth. Dave Robertson relieved Sabathia in the eighth and gave up a leadoff single to Crisp, who then stole second and came close to scoring the tying run at that point. Instead, the A's would have to wait an inning. Robertson struck out Josh Reddick and Yoenis Cespedes, the surging rookie slugger who had manhandled the Yankees in the first three games of the series. Cespedes had two home runs and seven hits in 10 at-bats in the first three games, but he went 0 for 5 on Sunday. With two outs, Eric Chavez then made a game-saving play as Chris Carter, the A's hulking first baseman, ripped a hard ground ball toward the left side of the infield. With Crisp crossing in front of him, Chavez had to back up to field the ball and then made a hurried throw to first base. As the speedy Crisp slid home with what might have been the tying run, Chavez's throw beat Carter by three inches. The inning was over, and the lead was barely preserved. The Yankees scored the first four runs of the game, then tried to desperately hold on as the A's scratched their way back. Nine Yankees batters went to the plate in the third inning against the former Yankee Bartolo Colon, and three of them scored. Dewayne Wise, playing right field in place of the injured Nick Swisher, singled, as did catcher Chris Stewart and Curtis Granderson, who was in the leadoff spot with Derek Jeter getting a rest. Jeter entered the game as a defensive replacement in the eighth inning. Mark Teixeira hit a bloop single to score Wise for the first run of the game. Then, after Robinson Cano crushed a line drive right to shortstop Brandon Hicks, Alex Rodriguez drove a double into the gap in left-center field, scoring two more runs. Rodriguez jumped up at second base and slapped his hands together as the Yankees took a 3-0 lead. Granderson made the score 4-0 with a long shot to right field with two outs in the fourth for his 26th home run. With Sabathia on the mound, it seemed a sufficient lead, but it was not, and the A's finally had their four-game sweep of the Yankees.