Homers and Miscues doom the A’s
Looking for a series win against the Bronx Bombers; the Athletics faced off against the New York Yankees this morning at Yankee Stadium. Luis Severino took the mound today against his former teammate Marcus Stroman for the Yankees.
Back in the Bronx for the first time as a visitor, Severino struck out two in his first inning of work. At the end of one, there was no score. But the Yankees got on the board on the first pitch of the second inning with a homer to right field by Jazz Chisholm Jr. It was his thirteenth home of the season.
The wheels started to fall off for Severino in the bottom of the third. A fielding error put Trent Grisham on second to start off the inning. Aaron Judge Walked and Ben Rice was hit by a pitch. Chisholm tripled to clear the bases. A Severino wild pitch scored Chisholm, giving the A’s a 5-0 lead. It took Seve 35 pitches to get out of the third, giving him a total of seventy-seven for his first three innings…not a formula for success.
With two outs in the bottom of the fourth Cody Bellinger doubled off the wall in right field. Aaron Judge then launched a homer to deep left field bringing the score to 7-0. After plunking Ben Rice for the second time in the game, that was all for Severino. His final line was 3.2 innings, seven runs (six earned) five hits and three walks.
Willie MacIver homered with one down in the top of the fifth inning, getting the A’s on the board after battling back from a 0-2 count and fouling off five consecutive pitches. But in the bottom of the inning Anthony Volpe singled and stole second. Trent Grisham walked, and Cody Bellinger homered to right field. That brought the score to 10-1. That ended the day for Hogan Harris.
The A’s mounted a rally in the top of the sixth when JJ Bleday led off with a walk and Brent Rooker doubled to move Bleday to third. He scored on a Nick Kurtz single. Max Muncy walked to lead the bases. Tyler Soderstrom walked to drive in Rooker. Luis Urías scorched a grounder to Chisholm at third, but his only play was across the diamond at first, scoring Kurtz. Willie MacIver walked to reload the bases, now with one out. Clarke hit a soft grounder to first for the second out, but that moved each of the runners up one and scored Muncy. After the top half of the sixth, the Yankees still led 10-5.
Trent Grisham walked to open the bottom of the seventh. Aaron Judge, responding to the fans “MVP” chants, homered for the second time to left centerfield. That brought the score to 12-5.
Michael Kelly entered the game to pitch the bottom of the eighth. He sent them down 1-2-3. Luke Weaver came in to pitch the ninth for the Yankees in a non-save situation. He made quick work of the A’s, slamming the door on the game and series.