OAKLAND, Calif. – For 13 straight games, the Yankees made almost every play, came away with every big hit … and won every game.
That changed on Saturday in a 3-2 loss to Athletics, which still contained some drama, with Aaron Judge throwing a two-run homer to Sergio Romo with an out at the top of the ninth to take out the Yankees. within a career.
But Giancarlo Stanton showed up and Joey Gallo took to the track to get the Yankees ’longest winning streak in sixty years.
“Just one of those days,” said Anthony Rizzo, who escaped a single to the left before the judge entered the ninth.
The Yankees generated nothing against Oakland right-back Frankie Montas for seven innings and were disallowed by Andrew Chafin in eighth place.
The Yankees’ defense was not good and Néstor Cortés was not as sharp as he had been in recent starts, but the main culprit on Saturday was a line-up that had been clicking as well as all year.
Montas faced two batters above the minimum, allowing only a couple of hits to Judge and a walk to LeMahieu.
The Yankees entered the game after scoring 10 times in their previous three games, a season high for a three-game stretch, and after scoring at least five runs in their previous eight games, also the best season.
But after Judge’s double at the top of the first, the Yankees failed to get another runner in scoring position against Montas, who entered the game with an ERA of 2.54 over his previous ten starts.
And they fell behind 2-0 at the end of the second.
Cortés withdrew the first two batters at the entrance before Chad Pinder doubled to center, only surpassing the referee’s throw at second base.
Sean Murphy walked for four throws and Tony Kemp followed him with a single in the center to score Pinder and send Murphy to third.
With the runners on the corners, Cortes tried to catch Kemp at first, but third baseman Will Will called him on a balance, allowing Murphy to score and make it 2-0.
Cortes and Rizzo argued the call, to no avail, before Cortes escaped the entrance.
Little also missed a call on the next third entry, when Starling Mars stole the third, but Odor was tagged in time. Since the Yankees had already lost the challenge, the call was maintained.
Yan Gomes followed with a liner caught by LeMahieu to the left of second base. LeMahieu threw to the third to bend Mars, but Odor’s foot was out of the bag. Little called it quits, anyway, and Oakland lost the impressive challenge, leading to the expulsion of manager Bob Melvin.
The A’s added a new run to the fourth, when Matt Chapman scored with a homer in the center left to take a 3-0 lead.
That was all that was allowed to the Cortes in 5 ¹ / ₃ entries. It was the second time this year he had given up more than two races won in one outing.
Albert Abreu and Lucas Luetge threw well in relief to give the Yankees offensive time to generate a comeback, but it didn’t happen.
Judge opened the top of the seventh with a single for the Yankees ’second hit of the afternoon, but Stanton blew a blow and Gallo made a double play.
“It seemed to me that we hit the ball hard throughout the game,” Cortes said of the foul. “We just couldn’t seal the deal.”
The judge, still as hot as any major player, gave the Yankees a chance in the end and said the streak since then “shows what we’re capable of.”
“It’s something I preached about this team,” the judge said. “It simply came to our notice then. We can win games in many ways. “
Not just this game.