Nunez’s gaffe keys late rally in Yankees’ loss to Oakland
NEW YORK — Cliff Pennington hit a go-ahead single in the sixth inning after a key error by backup shortstop Eduardo Nunez and the Oakland Athletics bounced back to avoid a sweep, edging New York 5-4 Sunday and stopping the Yankees’ seven-game winning streak.
A day after their stunning 14-inning loss — capped by a misplay on Nunez’s grounder — the A’s maintained their 2 1/2-game lead for the second AL wildcard spot over the Angels, who played later.
The Yankees kept their one-game lead in the AL East because Baltimore lost in Boston. Despite the defeat, the Yankees have to like their chances to win the division — their final 10 games are against three teams with records below .500.
After Oakland twice lost in extra innings in the Bronx, closer Grant Balfour watched in disbelief as Alex Rodriguez hit a fly to right in the ninth inning. Balfour appeared to think it would be a home run, but the ball fell softly into Josh Reddick’s glove at the wall. Balfour then struck out Robinson Cano for his 20th save.
The A’s lost a 10-9 heartbreaker Saturday when Brandon Moss misplayed Nunez’s spinning grounder for an error with two outs in the 14th. This time they took advantage of Nunez’s two-base throwing error on a tough play with one out in the sixth.
An out after Josh Donaldson reached second base, Pennington, the No. 9 batter, singled to left field for his third hit and a 5-4 lead. Pennington earlier hit a two-run homer.
Nunez, demoted in May because of his struggles in the field, was playing shortstop because Derek Jeter has been slowed by a sore ankle. Jeter had two hits as the designated hitter to extend his hitting streak to 17 games.
Yoenis Cespedes had a tying single in the fifth after a wild pitch from Hiroki Kuroda (14-11). The A’s scored a run in the first on another wild pitch by the Yankees starter.
Jerry Blevins (5-1) pitched 1 1-3 innings in relief of A.J. Griffin.
Oakland improved to 2-4 on a 10-game road trip against playoff contenders. They play four games against West-leading Texas beginning Monday.
In a seesaw series, the A’s opened a 3-0 lead but the Yankees rallied for four runs in the fourth before Cespedes tied it.
Oakland scored four runs in the 13th inning of Saturday’s 5-hour, 43-minute game, but the Yankees came back. The A’s bullpen locked this one down, though, with 4 2-3 innings of shutout ball. Ryan Cook worked 1 1/3 innings, Sean Doolittle went an inning and Balfour finished.
Donaldson led off the second by beating out a grounder to shortstop. But replays clearly showed Donaldson’s foot a few feet from coming down on first base when Nick Swisher caught Nunez’s low throw. Two batters later, Pennington homered to right field for a 3-0 lead.
The young A’s — 14 rookies on the roster — kept right on celebrating in their dugout, a day after former teammate and current Yankee Eric Chavez told a New York columnist that Oakland’s rhythmic clapping during its three-homer spurt in the 13th inning was “high schoolish.”
But in this tight series the Yankees rallied again, and Raul Ibanez was right in the mix in the fourth inning.
Trailing 3-0 and with only one hit off Griffin through three innings, the Yankees came back in the fourth when Cano singled and Swisher homered into the second deck in right field. After two more hits, Ibanez followed up his two-homer performance Saturday with an RBI double that left a mark on the right field line to tie it.