It was a tale of two halves for the Yankees this weekend in Oakland, as they began with two more victories to extend their winning streak to 13 games, a first since 1961 for this ball club. However, the second half of the four-game set against the Athletics brought two underwhelming streak-snapping defeats, not only ending the Bombers winning streak, but 10 straight series wins in the process. The series split is still beneficial to New York though, who maintain their five-game lead over the third-place A’s in the AL wildcard race and clinch the season series 4-3.
In-game one, an Aaron Boone ejection led to a Bombers offensive barrage for a quick 6-0 lead, before the A’s roared back to tie it. But in the ninth inning, a bloop RBI single by Aaron Judge kept the Yankees winning streak alive. Game two saw blasts by Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge, Luke Voit, and Kyle Higashioka, as well as a brilliant performance out of Yankees ace Gerrit Cole, led the team to an 8-2 victory.
But in game three, Frankie Montas shut down the New York offense for seven frames, with an Aaron Judge two-run HR in the ninth all the Yankees could muster in a streak-snapping 3-2 defeat.
The series finale brought a pitcher to duel between Jordan Montgomery and Patrick Blackburn and ultimately did come down to a battle of the bullpens, where “Yankee-Killer” Tony Kemp took Chad Green deep for a two-run HR in the eighth which was the difference in the A’s 3-1 victory, forcing the series split.
GAME ONE YANKEES 7 A’S 6:
James Kaprielian took the mound for Oakland and started strong by striking out the first four men he faced, but an egregious strike three calls on Joey Gallo by home plate umpire Todd Technor enraged Yankees manager Aaron Boone who was tossed for arguing balls and strikes. But the turn of events seemed to ignite the Bombers, as later that inning, Giancarlo Stanton unloaded for a 400+ moonshot to center field, and Brett Gardner went deep to right to give the Yankees a 2-0 lead. In the third, an RBI double from Anthony Rizzo and a three-run jack by Joey Gallo increased the Bombers’ lead to 6-0.
But the A’s didn’t go quietly into the night, as they tagged New York starter Jamision Tallion for back to back home runs by Matt Chapman and Sean Murphy in the third, an RBI walk for Chapman in the fourth, and a two-run single by Elvis Andrus whittled the Yankees deficit to a single run at 6-5. Albert Abreu would relieve Tallion, but serve up a game-tying homer to Josh Harrision erasing everything the Bombers did earlier. After Jonathan Losiga kept the visitors in it with two scoreless frames following a Clay Holmes unscathed sixth, New York had a chance to take the lead in the inning, loading the bases for Gio Urshela who they just welcomed back from injury. Unfortunately for Gio, he grounded out to end the threat. Ultimately the game would head into the ninth inning still tied, and fireballer Lou Trivino on for Oakland. After two quick outs, Anthony Rizzo walked and put a runner aboard for Aaron Judge. But New York would play chess, and pinch run the speedy Tyler Wade at first, who stole second and took third on the error by catcher Yan Gomes. All Judge needed to do was get any kind of hit, which he did,blooping a 74MPH RBI single to right field putting the Yankees ahead for good at 7-6. In the bottom of the ninth, Bombers closer Aroldis Chapman locked down the save, getting Matt Olson to ground out with a man on second to finish off their 12th straight victory.
GAME TWO YANKEES 8 A’S 2:
In a battle of the aces, Gerrit Cole took the mound for the Bombers and struck out nine over six scoreless frames,but the Athletics go-toman in Sean Manena didn’t have the same result. Giancarlo Stanton continued his hot hitting with a towering bomb in the top of the fourth, before Luke Voit went deep himself to make it 2-0. In the fifth, the scorching-hot Aaron Judge muscled up , and drove in three more to make it 5-0. That was more than enough for Cole who stymied the Oakland offense throughout his outing, giving way to the bullpen. Leading 5-2 in the ninth, the Yankees padded their lead, as Kyle Higashioka went deep for a two-run HR,and Aaron Judge finished off a three hit, four RBI night with an RBI knock, as the visitors notched their 13th straight victory 8-2.
GAME THREE YANKEES 2 A’S 3:
Frankie montas shut the Yankees offense down for seven scoreless innings, helping Oakland snap the Yankees 13 game-winning streak with a 3-2 win. Nestor Cortes JR struggled early for New York, allowing an RBI single to Tony Kemp in the first that made it 1-0 A’s. Later in the inning, Cortes was called for a balk, scoring Sean Murphy from third, before a Matt Olson solo bomb in the fourth made it 3-0 Athletics. Luckily for Nestor though, he would finish strong lasting 5.1 innings, before giving way to Albert Abreu and Lucas Lutege who helped keep the offense within striking distance. But the bats never got going, as Frankie Montas struck out six over seven masterful innings, paving the way for an Andrew Chafin scoreless eighth. Aaron Judge would give the Yankees life with a two-run shot in the ninth to extend his on-base streak to 20 games, but Sergio Romo would induce a Giancarlo Stanton pop up, and a Joey Gallo groundout to retire the win-streak into history with a 3-2 win.
GAME FOUR YANKEES 1 A’S 3:
On ESPN, the Bombers and A’s locked into a pitchers duel, with a Tony Kemp two-run HR off Chad Green in the with being the difference in the Athletics splitting with the Yankees. Jordan Montgomery went six innings, but was undone by his defense, mainly Gio Urshela who’s boot on a potential inning-ending double play instead loaded the bases for Mark Cahana. Mark hit one to Tyler Wade at shortstop that too looked like an inning-ending double play, but upon further review he took a moment too long to begin the turn as Cahana reached first base allowing a run to score, for a 1-0 Athletics lead. On the pitching side, Patrick Blackburn picked up where his teammate and friend Frankie Montas left off in Saturday’s tilt, and turned away the Yankees bats for five scoreless, before giving way to Yusmerio Petit who delivered a scoreless sixth to keep it at 1-0.
A seemingly desperation rally by the visiting team off of Jake Diekman in the seventh inning seemed it would go for naught with Anthony Rizzo popping one up to Oakland catcher Yan Gomes, but the ball clanked off of his glove keeping the at-bat alive. Rizzo would then line a hotshot to gold-glove winning Matt Chapman at third, but it went right off his glove, and through his legs allowing Gary Sanchez to score to tie the game at a run apiece.
The game seemed destined for extras after that, especially after Jonathan Losiga worked out of a bases loaded jam(Including another Urshela error) in the bottom of the seventh, by striking out Gomes to keep it tied. However, “Yankee-Killer”
Tony Kemp had other plans, following a two-out double by Cahana double with a go-ahead two run homer, ultimately lifting Oakland to a 3-1 victory.
SERIES MVP: AARON JUDGE
OUT OF TOWN SCOREBOARD:
Over the weekend, the Rays swept the Orioles,and the Red Sox took two of three from the Indians to pull within two games of the Yankees(Three in the loss column) for the first AL Wildcard. Elsewhere, the Seattle Mariners playoff hopes took a hit as they dropped three of four to the lowly Kansas City Royals, falling two games back of the third place A’s.
AL EAST STANDINGS:
TAMPA BAY RAYS 82-48(7 Game win streak)
NEW YORK YANKEES 76-54 (6 games out)
AL WILDCARD:
NYY 76-54
BOS 75-57
A’S 72-59(2.5 back of playoff spot)
SEATTLE MARINERS 70-61(4.5 back of playoff spot)
UP NEXT:
The Yankees sent down reliever Albert Abreu to clear a roster spot for starter Corey Kluber, who is 4-3 with a 3.04 ERA in 10 starts this season, but hasn’t pitched since late May due to a right shoulder injury. The 35-year old will be on a pitch count of 75-80 pitches per manager Aaron Boone, as he looks to build his way back up into helping his teams push for the playoffs at full capacity. Andrew Heaney will “Piggyback” against his former team in the Los Angeles Angels out of the pen following the Klubots outing. Meanwhile, the Halos(64-67) will counter with a bullpen game. First pitch will be at 9:38 ET in Anaheim.
GAME TWO 9:38 PM ET:
Jamison Tallion(8-4, 4.18 ERA) vs Shohei Ohtani(8-1, 3.00 ERA, and and MLB-leading 40 HR to his name)
GAME THREE 7:07 PM ET:
Gerrit Cole (13-6, 2.80 ERA, and is also the CY Young leader in the AL right now) vs Jamie Barria (2-2, 5.56 ERA)
Comentarios