WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — For eight innings, this looked like the night the Yankees finally ran out of magic. Then the ninth inning happened, and for a few wild minutes, it looked like they might steal it anyway.
They did not. And when it was over, the man second-guessing himself the most was the one in the dugout wearing No. 17.
Aaron Boone watched his Yankees load the bases in the ninth, draw three straight bases-loaded walks, and pull within a run. Then he watched Jazz Chisholm Jr. ground out with the tying run standing on second base. The 6-4 loss to the Athletics on Saturday night at Sutter Health Park snapped a five-game Yankees winning streak and left their manager openly regretting a decision he made two innings earlier.
That Yankees decision involved Ryan Weathers, a pitch count, and a left-on-left matchup that blew up in the worst way.
Weathers strikes out 10 but pays for three mistakes
Ryan Weathers was excellent for most of the night for the Yankees. The left-hander struck out 10 hitters across 6 2/3 innings, the kind of line that usually means a win. But three swings undid all of it.
Shea Langeliers got the Athletics started with a two-run homer in the first inning. The early deficit set a tone the Yankees could not shake all night. Tyler Soderstrom added a solo shot in the sixth. Then came the seventh, and the moment Boone would replay in his head.
Weathers retired the first two batters in the bottom of the seventh. The Yankees trailed 3-1. He then walked leadoff man Colby Thomas on a full count, and Boone walked to the mound. The manager had right-hander Camilo Doval warming in the bullpen. But Boone wanted the left-on-left matchup against Nick Kurtz, and he wanted to keep the A’s left-handed hitters on the bench.
Boone left the Yankees lefty in. The next pitch was a 94 mph fastball up and in. Kurtz drove it just over the center-field wall for a two-run homer and a 5-1 A’s lead. It was the 107th and final pitch Weathers would throw.
Boone owns the call that backfired
After the game, Boone was candid. He did not hide behind the result or dodge the question. He drew a clear line between the matchup he stood by and the pitch count he wished he had respected.
Asked whether he regretted keeping Weathers in, Boone separated the two issues. He defended the Kurtz matchup but admitted the timing was the problem.
“I feel like kind of kicking myself,” Boone said. “Probably after he got the second out, through the bottom of the order, definitely a case there to go for the leadoff hitter.”
Boone went further, explaining exactly where his thinking split. He stood by the platoon logic while conceding that the pitch total should have changed his plan.
“I don’t question leaving him in there for Kurtz, I’m going to take my left-on-left shot there with two outs,” Boone said. “But after he got those first two, and throwing quite a few pitches to that point, that’s the one where maybe I go to Doval there.”
It was a rare public admission of regret from a Yankees manager who usually backs his decisions. The honesty reflected how thin the margin was, and how much the home run stung.
The offense that went quiet at the wrong time
Weathers deserved better from the Yankees lineup. The Yankees managed just one run through eight innings against Athletics starter J.T. Ginn, who allowed one unearned run over six innings. It was the first win by an A’s starting pitcher since May 15.
The lone Yankees run came in the fourth and required no hits. With Cody Bellinger on third and Chisholm on first, Chisholm stole second. The throw clanked off the glove of second baseman Alika Williams for an error, letting Bellinger trot home.
The dry spell fit a season-long pattern for the Yankees lefty. For the eighth time in his 11 starts, the Yankees scored two runs or fewer while he was on the mound. He owns the third-lowest run support among qualified starters in the majors, and he is now winless in his last four outings despite pitching well.
Weathers took the blame anyway. Speaking after the game, he pointed to the early runs he surrendered rather than the support he did not get.
“I put them in a bad spot giving two runs up in the first,” Weathers said. “This is a game of momentum, so if we don’t score, I got to put up a zero and just keep momentum. I gave them momentum early and this is a game of that. I just can’t do that.”
The Yankees starter’s frustration boiled over in plain view. In a dugout with no tunnel to the clubhouse, Weathers slammed his glove and other objects after exiting, the cameras catching every second.
The ninth inning that nearly rewrote the night
The Yankees were down to their final three outs trailing 6-1 when the comeback began. What followed was less a rally than a slow-motion A’s collapse.
Against relievers Jack Perkins and Scott Barlow, the Yankees drew walk after walk. Barlow, summoned for the save, walked the first three batters he faced. Ben Rice, Aaron Judge and Bellinger each drew bases-loaded walks on full counts, forcing in three runs and cutting the lead to 6-4. The Yankees had taken just one swing across their final 27 pitches.
Then Chisholm came up with the bases loaded and two outs. He grounded out to end the game, leaving the tying run at second base. The A’s, who had nearly handed the Yankees the game, survived. The win snapped a four-game Athletics losing streak.
Boone found something to like in the way his Yankees refused to quit, even in defeat. He framed the ninth as a near-miss rather than a failure.
“Love the finish,” Boone said. “Just didn’t quite get over the hump there.”
Weathers, for his part, took the long view that a 162-game season demands. He acknowledged the sting while pointing forward.
“It’s a tough one to swallow, but just got to move on from it,” Weathers said.
The Yankees fell to 35-23 with the loss, while the Athletics improved to 28-30. New York will try to take the series Sunday in the finale, with right-hander Will Warren set to face A’s left-hander Jacob Lopez. For one night, though, the Yankees were left to wonder what one earlier bullpen call might have changed.
What do you think? Will the offense get back on track on Sunday?
