OAKLAND — Just like the previous two nights, sloppy baseball and another terrible outing from a starting pitcher doomed the Yankees as yet another loss completed the sweep by the Athletics. Tonight’s 5-3 setback is New York’s fourth loss in a row, which matches a season-high.
The pitching tonight was not excellent but the Yankee offense had their fair share of chances to make this a game. Unfortunately for the Bombers, they could not come up with the big hit this team yearned for all series long.
Batting in the clean-up spot, Gio Urshela looked absolutely lost at the plate, striking out in all four of his plate appearances and killing a few possible rallies.
Masahiro Tanaka was haunted by a nightmare first inning that saw him allow a leadoff double to Marcus Semien then walking the next two batters in the line-up. A bases loaded, no-out situation in the first is not ideal to say the least.
After a Matt Olson RBI-groundout opened the scoring, Mark Canha drove in two more with a single later in the frame.
Gary Sanchez began the next inning with a single, as the Yankees looked to immediately mount a comeback. Unfortunately for them, an unbelievable play by Olson started a 3-6 double play that caught Sanchez by surprise, as he did not slide into second.
The A’s added two more runs in the third before the Bombers finally broke through in the fifth inning. After Gleyber Torres hit a double, Mike Tauchman singled him in immediately right after.
And Torres wasn’t done. In the seventh, the second baseman took Tanner Roark deep for his 30th home run of the year and to cut the lead to 5-2.
Second homer of the night for Torres making it 31 on the year. Gleyber becomes the second youngest Yankee to have 30 home runs in a season, behind Joe DiMaggio! pic.twitter.com/icVjjFctvY
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) August 23, 2019
Then in the ninth, when the Yankees had just an out remaining, Torres homered again against Joakim Soria to cut the lead to 5-3. Tauchman subsequently struckout, however, to seal the win for the A’s.
The Yankees head to Los Angeles to face the NL-leading Dodgers next, with James Paxton on the mound versus fellow left-hander Hyun-jin Ryu.
Current Yankees Record: 83-46
