BRING ‘A’ GAME
Shut out in Oakland for third loss in four games
OAKLAND – The Yankees must be happy they don’t have to come to the Coliseum again this season. Then again, some would argue they never showed up here to begin with.
The last-place A’s took three of four from the first-place Yankees, finishing the series with a 3-0 shutout of the Bombers on Sunday. The Yankees are 2-12 in their last 14 games here at the Coliseum.
“That’s baseball,” Mark Teixeira said. “They beat us. We didn’t kick the ball around, we didn’t walk a lot of guys. They just played better than we did.”
Since reaching their high-water mark of 21-12 on May 11, the Yankees are 5-13 over their past 18 games.
“It’s tough,” Joe Girardi said. “We’ve been streaky. We lost three at home, then we win three, and we come and lose three out of four here. You need to be more consistent. It’s important that we become more consistent and get on a roll.”
Jesse Chavez tossed eight scoreless innings, holding the Yankees to seven hits – all singles. Chavez (25) struck out six and did not walk a batter, lowering his ERA to 2.11.
Tyler Clippard brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth before earning his third save in four days against his former team by retiring pinch-hitters Brian McCann and Garrett Jones.
Adam Warren pitched well for the fourth consecutive start, holding Oakland to two runs on six hits and a walk over seven innings. But Stephen Vogt’s two-run homer in the sixth was all Oakland needed against Warren, who pitched into the seventh inning for the fourth straight outing.
“It’s probably one of the more frustrating games I’ve had,” Warren said. “Early on I didn’t feel quite right, quite in rhythm. I feel like I started to get stronger as the game went on, and that I was pitching well in that sixth inning. That’s the way the game goes.”
Now it’s off to Seattle, where the Yankees will try to right the ship against Robinson Cano and the Mariners. It won’t be easy on Monday, as Michael Pineda matches up against Felix Hernandez.
“It will be good to get out of here,” Brett Gardner said.
The Yankees threatened in each of the first two innings, putting runners at first and second with one out. Chavez escaped both times, the latter on a Jose Pirela line drive that resulted in Didi Gregorius being doubled off first base, an early sign that this might not be the Yankees’ day.
Warren flirted with trouble during the first two innings as well, but he stranded an Oakland runner in scoring position in each frame.
Warren went on to retire nine out of 10 through the fifth, getting help from a line drive double play turned by Teixeira after Billy Butler’s leadoff single.
The game remained scoreless into the sixth, but the Athletics finally broke the tie in the bottom of the inning. Billy Burns led off with a single, then stole second and third BLUESHIRT before Vogt drilled his two-run shot off Warren.
“I was trying to jam him up, get weak contact and keep the guy at third,” Warren said. “I felt like I made a decent pitch, he just put a good swing on it.”
Warren held the damage to the two runs while pitching through the seventh for the second time in his past four starts.
“He made one mistake, and unfortunately it cost us the game,” Girardi said. “We got a really good performance out of him, and unfortunately we didn’t score any runs.”
Chavez retired the Yankees in order in the sixth and seventh, then worked around Gregorius’ leadoff hit in the eighth to preserve his shutout.
“It felt like he was throwing eight different pitches,” Teixeira said. “Every at-bat, every pitch, he was throwing something different. He could speed you up if he needed to. He was really hitting his spots and didn’t make many mistakes all day.”
After Oakland tacked on an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth, Clippard allowed a leadoff single by A-Rod. The closer retired Teixeira, but Beltran drew a walk, bringing the tying run to the plate.
McCann struck out and Garrett Jones fouled out to seal the Yankees’ fate.
“We have a lot of good players in this room,” Gardner said. “We’ve got a lot of good pitching, and think we’ve got a good team. We just have to hopefully play well in Seattle and put a good finish to the road trip.”