Yanks Squander Opportunities All Night. Lose. Oakland 3 NY 1

April 26, 2024 paperbacklou 2024 0

The Yankees banged out 11 hits and got 3 walks — but only scored 1 run as they squandered opportunity after opportunity in losing to the A’s 3-1 at Yankee Stadium on a cold Thursday night (temps in high 40’s to 50).

While much of New York was watching the Knicks game #3 against Philly, the Yankees seemed just as distracted. NY loaded the bases with nobody out in the 1st and didn’t score; loaded the bases with 1 out in the 4th and didn’t score; had 2 baserunners in the 5th and 6th and didn’t score; and put a baserunner on in the 7th, 8th, and 9th — bringing the tying run to the plate — but didn’t score.

Even the one run they got — on a homer by Jose Trevino in the 2nd inning — should have been a 2-run homer had a Yankee baserunner (Gleyber Torres) not gotten picked off 2nd just before it.

Meanwhile Nestor Cortes pitched well — 7 innings of 5-hit ball — but allowed 2 homeruns in the 3rd — a solo shot and 2-run homer — for all of Oakland’s runs.

“What did we have — 14, 15 baserunners tonite?”, said manager Aaron Boone afterwards. “Just unable to cash them in other than the Trevi homer. Ultimately when you go in you want to create that traffic but you want to deliver on it and we weren’t able to do that tonite.”

NY falls to 17-9, and fall into a virtual tie with Baltimore for 1st place, percentage points behind actually. Oakland splits the 4-game series to improve to 10-16.

1. Wood Rope-a-Dopes Yanks

Oakland started 33-year-old lefty Alex Wood, and he rope-a-doped the Yanks into the 6th. Wood has spent his career in the National League — with Atlanta, the Dodgers, and San Francisco. He went 16-3 2.72 in 2017 with the Dodgers, his best year.

He was signed as a free agent by Oakland this winter at $8.5 M a year on a 1-year deal.

He came in with an 0-2 7.89 record and one could see why in the 1st as Anthony Volpe led off with a single, Juan Soto doubled to right, and Aaron Judge walked to load the bases with nobody out.

But one could see why Alex Wood once went 16-3 2.72 — he struck out Giancarlo Stanton and got Anthony Rizzo to hit a 93-MPH sinker for an inning-ending double play.

There was more of that in the 2nd inning: Gleyber Torres led off with a single — but then was caught trying to steal 2nd base. Jose Trevino hit an opposite-field homer into the short porch in right it was 1-0 NY.

Wood retired the Yanks in order in the 3rd, but in the 4th, Giancarlo reached on an error, Anthony Rizzo singled to right, and after Torres flied out, Alex Verdugo singled to load the bases with only 1 out.

But Jose Trevino hit an 86-MPH changup into another inning-ending double play.

More of the same in the 5th: Oswaldo Cabrera led off with a single, and with 2 outs, Aaron Judge walked — but Giancarlo Stanton hit an 85-MPH changeup for a groundout.

Wood was lifted after allowing a 2-out single to Verdugo in the 6th. Austin Adams came in and allowed a single to Trevino to put 1st and 2nd, 2 outs — but again the Yanks stranded the runners — Oswaldo grounding out.

2. Cortes Good

The Good News: Nestor Cortes pitched great again — 7 innings, 5 hits.

Sans the 3rd inning when Cortes allowed 2 homer balls. The first came to shortstop Nick Allen — 360 feet into the left field seats to tie the game with 1 out.

Cortes then allowed a single to Darell Hernaiz and a 2-out homer to right by Tyler Nevin. Oakland 3 NY 1.

“Overall I thought Nestor was very inline with what we saw last time,” said Boone. “I thought his fastball was really good tonite again, stuff was good again — he was crisp. Just that couple of minutes there where that was obviously the game, those few hitters.”

3. Yank Pen Holds Oakland in Place

Dennis Santana pitched a shutout 8th and Victor Gonzalez pitched a shutout 9th to keep Oakland at 3 runs and the Yanks a bloop-and-a-blast away.

4. Oakland Pen Holds Yanks

And the Yanks put a runner on in each of the last 3 innings — but could not come up with the ‘blast’:

  • In the 7th, Juan Soto worked a 1-out walk against reliever Lucas Erceg — bringing the tying run to the plate. But both Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton struck out.

  • In the 8th, Gleyber Torres singled with 1 out — bringing the tying run to the plate. But Verdugo lined out and Trevino struck out against setup man T.J. McFarland.
  • In the 9th, Anthony Volpe reached on an infield single with 1 out against ace reliever Mason Miller — bringing the tying run to the plate. But Juan Soto struck out on a 101-MPH fastball and Aaron Judge flied out to right for the old ballgame.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401568849

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