A’s lose to Yankees in rarest fashion, waste Sean Manaea gem
History was made on Father’s Day at Yankee Stadium, and the Oakland A’s were on the wrong side of it.
With the game-tying run in scoring position and the go-ahead one at first in the top of the ninth against flamethrower Aroldis Chapman, Sean Murphy hit a jam shot that trickled to Yankees third baseman Gio Urshela, who needed just a hop-step to get the force out at third and turn it to second. With Murphy ambling down the line, the second baseman rifled it to first for a game-ending triple play.
The triple play secured the Yankees 2-1 win and handed the A’s their first road series loss of the season thus far. It also marked the first time the Athletics had lost a game on a triple play since May 5, 1903 in a game against the New York Highlanders.
“That’s a pretty crazy thing to happen,” Matt Olson said. “Obviously we were picking up some steam there. Chapman was struggling to find the zone. Looks like he pulled a fastball in the inside part to jam Murphy a little. Urshela happened to be in the right spot. There couldn’t have been more — routine isn’t the word — but triple play set-up. Sh—- luck. Tough way to lose.”
A few inches and bits of bad luck made the difference in a bitter one-run game. Matt Olson’s 20th home run on the season was their only run, and he came inches from lobbing a three-run home run at a difficult 45 degree launch angle — Aaron Judge caught it at the wall.
Matt Chapman was a few feet shy of hitting home runs twice. The second ball dropped between outfielder Clint Frazier’s glove an inch off the wall in center for a one-out triple in the eighth inning. Olson struck out and Laureano flew out at the warning track to extinguish the game-tying chance.
“It ended up being a game of inches today, literally,” manager Bob Melvin said.
It looked like the A’s were earning those inches back in the ninth inning when Chapman, dealing with a fingernail issue, couldn’t find the strike zone. The closer issued back-to-back walks to Jed Lowrie and Tony Kemp. Murphy saw a hittable fastball he tried to pull down the line, but it bounced to Urshela in the worst location.
“I’ve never seen a game end like that before,” Melvin said.
Sean Manaea’s big day: Manaea shouldered the loss despite pitching one of his best games this year.
He entered his start Sunday having not allowed a single earned run in two starts at Yankee Stadium. Through five dominant innings, it looked like Manaea could keep the streak.
His sinker averaging two miles per hour faster than average, Manaea struck out a career-high 11 batters in 5 1/3 innings. His sinker generated 17 swings and misses; according to pitch analyst site Codify, that’s the most swings and misses on that pitch this season (the previous best was 13). But back-to-back walks in the sixth and a Gary Sanchez two-run double tarnished his clean slate.
“The Frazier at bat might’ve taken a little out of him,” Melvin said. “That’s what happens in close games, it ends up being one at-bat at times.”
Though he’s no longer un-scored upon at Yankee Stadium, Manaea can tack this performance along with his pair of complete games as one of his best this season. Throwing primarily his sinker and changeup, Manaea allowed just two hits until the trouble inning hit. It helped that he took a bullpen off before this start, saying he felt “a little tired” this week. With consistent arm speed and slot, his changeup played perfectly off his two-seamer to keep the Yankees on their toes.
“They were having a tough time figuring him out,” Olson said. “From what I saw, it was fastball, changeup most of the day, too. Wasn’t doing too much of the slider and it’s tough to have an outing like that against this lineup with two pitches. Fastball looked like it was exploding out of his hand.”
Between walks to Clint Frazier and Aaron Judge, Manaea struck out DJ LeMahieu for his 11th strikeout. That’s not only a career high for Manaea — he’s had 10 four times in his career, including this May against the Tampa Bay Rays — but are the most by an A’s pitcher in fewer than six innings since Kirk Saarloos struck out 11 in 2006. Tim Hudson is the only other A’s pitcher to do it, striking out 11 in 1999 in five innings, too.
“Manaea pitched a hell of a game, so it sucks to have a loss there,” Olson said. “But, it’s no slouch of a team. It’s a good team, so we don’t want to be four hit and lose, but it’s a good team and a tough environment.”
Bullpen doings: Sergio Romo retired five straight in relief of Manaea, including a big strikeout to Giancarlo Stanton with Sanchez on third to end the sixth inning.
Cam Bedrosian pitched a scoreless eighth inning in his first appearance since June 12.