WELL THAT'S TWO BAD

Yankees drop second in row as offense sputters against Athletics

OAKLAND, Calif. — Now the Yankees have a losing streak.

After winning 13 in a row, the Yankees dropped their second straight on Sunday, losing to the A’s, 3-1, as Chad Green allowed a two-run homer to new Yankee

killer Tony Kemp in the bottom of the eighth.

The loss dropped the Yankees six games back of the front-running Rays in the AL East after Tampa Bay won its seven straight.

While Green had his share of blame, the Yankees’ lineup sputtered again against the A’s, scoring just an unearned run in the seventh and failing to get a base hit after the fifth. And Joey Gallo failed to make a tough play in left.

Green retired the first two batters he faced in the eighth, with Brett Gardner chasing down a long fly ball to center by Jed Lowrie to open the inning and Matt Chapman grounding to short.

Mark Canha then drilled a line drive over Gallo in left for a double, although the struggling Gallo didn’t play the ball well.

“That was scalded,’’ Boone said of Canha’s double, tracked at 107 mph. “It took off on him ... and kept rising. He just couldn’t quite get to it.”

And Kemp, who pinch hit for Chad Pinder and singled in the seventh, made the Yankees pay, hitting a homer to right on the first pitch he saw from Green.

“I just have to make better quality pitches,’’ Green said.

“He’s hurt us this year,’’ Boone said of Kemp, who’s 8-for-16 and hit three of his five homers against the Yankees.

“He’s just not missing pitches,’’ Green said.

Despite the numbers, Boone said they didn’t consider walking Kemp to get to Elvis Andrus.

The Yankees, who scored

just two runs in Saturday’s loss, weren’t able to answer in the ninth and lost consecutive games for the first time since July 22-23.

But Boone was unconcerned about the losses impacting the team’s confidence.

“No, we’re in a good mental space,’’ Boone said. “You’re gonna hit a bump in the road along the way, even when you’re playing great.”

“You’re not gonna win out the rest of the season,’’ Giancarlo Stanton said. “We understand reality. We’ll be fine.”

Jordan Montgomery allowed just an unearned run in his six innings and has given up one or fewer runs in five of his past six starts.

Jonathan Loaisiga got out of a bases-loaded jam in the seventh before Green came in.

The offense got off to a promising start against right-hander Paul Blackburn in the top of the first, as DJ LeMahieu walked on four pitches and Stanton followed with a sharp single to left.

But Aaron Judge lined out to center and Gallo grounded into a double play.

The A’s loaded the bases with one out in the fourth.

After Gardner made a fine running catch of Matt Olson’s drive to the warning track in left-center for the first out, Yan Gomes and Lowrie singled. Matt Chapman followed with a chopper to third, where Gio Urshela flubbed it, as he tried to turn a double play.

Canha hit a grounder to short and the Yankees initially were credited with a double play that would have ended the threat without a run, but the A’s challenged the call and replay showed Canha beat LeMahieu’s throw to first.

The reversal was costly, as it allowed Gomes to score and put the Yankees in a 1-0 hole with the unearned run.

Blackburn became the second straight Oakland starter to shut down the Yankees’ offense, tossing five scoreless innings following Frankie Montas’ seven shutout frames on Saturday.

Left-hander Jake Diekman walked Gary Sanchez to lead off the seventh and Sanchez moved to second on a wild pitch, but Diekman whiffed Gardner and Urshela.

Anthony Rizzo pinch hit for Wade and caught a break when Gomes dropped his foul pop-up that should have ended the inning before Rizzo hit a grounder that Chapman let go through his legs. Sanchez came around to score the Yankees’ only run.

Rizzo moved to second, where he was replaced by pinch-runner Andrew Velazquez.

Chapman was able to snare LeMahieu’s liner to keep the game tied at 1-1.