By GEORGE A. KING III

OAKLAND — A.J. Burnett and Jorge Posada need to tighten up their communication skills with each other.

After a 7-3 victory Aug. 12 over the Blue Jays, Posada said he was crossed up a couple of times and Burnett uncorked three wild pitches, though none of the wild pitches came on a cross-up.

Monday night, when Burnett went the distance and gave up three runs and six hits against the A’s, he stopped his delivery in the middle and was called for a balk with runners on second and third.

“He put curveball down and I saw fastball in,” Burnett said. “I saw (Posada) move and I couldn’t do anything about it. I missed the sign.” The balk was in the middle of a three-run fourth that was enough to get Burnett beat, 3-0.

“He stopped, it’s not something you see every day but we saw it tonight,” Joe Girardi said. “It was a little mix-up.”