NEW YORK — Ryan Weathers did everything the New York Yankees could have asked on Thursday afternoon at Yankee Stadium. He threw eight innings. He scattered seven hits. He walked nobody and struck out seven batters. He threw a career-high 101 pitches and allowed a single run on a day when his team could not put a ball in play with any consequence.
He still lost.
The Yankees fell 1-0 to the Athletics in the series finale, managing just one hit against left-hander Jeffrey Springs and the A’s bullpen. It was the team’s first series loss of the 2026 season. It was also, in a painful way, the clearest picture yet of the offensive problem that has begun to define the early weeks of this campaign.
Weathers turned the page from his last start
Five days earlier, Ryan Weathers lasted just 3 2/3 innings in a start against Miami. He threw 88 pitches, 52 of them strikes, and allowed three runs. The performance left the Yankees searching for answers.
He found one in a phone call with his father.
Once part of the Yankees, David Weathers pitched 18 seasons in the major leagues. After the Miami start, the elder Weathers had a straightforward message for his son: trust your brain, not just your arm.
“He harps on me for strike throwing,” Ryan Weathers said. “In the last couple of outings, I haven’t used my brain. I’ve been raised in the game with him. I’ve been at this level long enough to know you have to pitch with your brain out there.”
The adjustment was visible from the first pitch against the A’s . Weathers worked quickly and efficiently. His mechanics smoothed out. His misses were close to the zone, not yanked away from it. Springs may have had the better numbers on the afternoon, but Weathers was not the reason the Yankees lost this game.
“My mechanics were a little more fluid. I was working on being more fluid on the mound. It really helps when my mind is relaxed and I trust myself,” Weathers said. “You can do it all day in the bullpen, playing catch, but until you do it in a game — now I know what that feeling is like of just being calm on the mound. Hopefully, I can keep throwing strikes.”
One hit, one run, no answers from the offense
The Yankees were nearly no-hit.
Springs carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning. With one out and two runners in scoring position after Giancarlo Stanton drew a walk, Ben Rice grounded a single through the right side of the infield to put two runners on. It was the team’s only hit of the afternoon.
The rally died immediately. Randal Grichuk struck out. Austin Wells, the Yankees’ primary catcher, flew out to end the inning. New York did not put another runner on base until the eighth, when Mickey Mantle’s great grandson — no, let that sit — when Aaron Judge drew a walk with the go-ahead run a hit away, then watched helplessly as Grichuk grounded into a fielder’s choice to strand him.
Springs finished his afternoon with seven shutout innings, one hit, two walks, and six strikeouts on 84 pitches against the Yankees. Relievers Justin Sterner and Hogan Harris completed the one-hitter. Harris’s ninth inning was perfect.
The game’s only run came in the seventh when Max Muncy led off with a triple and scored on a Tyler Soderstrom single off Weathers. That was all the A’s needed.
Boone praises Weathers, acknowledges the offensive slump
Yankees manager Aaron Boone acknowledged both sides of the afternoon without flinching. He praised Weathers for giving the club length it needed during a stretch of 13 games in 13 days. The Yankees skipper also admitted the offense has real work to do.
“We used our bullpen a lot. That’s the silver lining here, it kind of reset those [relievers] a little bit. We got a really strong outing from Ryan,” Boone said.
“Look, we got shut down today. We didn’t generate much. We didn’t hit a lot of balls on the screws at all and didn’t create much traffic. We have a few guys struggling to get on track a little bit. Hopefully, we’ll get things going.”
The numbers behind the series told a sobering story. Over the final two games of the Athletics series, the Yankees collected five hits, scored two runs, and struck out 22 times. Their two-run output in those two games came entirely in the first inning of Wednesday’s 3-2 loss against former teammate Luis Severino. After that first inning, they went 17 consecutive innings without scoring.
Through 12 games, the Yankees are now 0-4 in games decided by a single run. Every loss they have suffered in 2026 has come by one run.
Cold weather, cold bats, warmer climate next
TheYankees manager pointed to the weather as one factor in the offensive struggles, though he was careful not to lean on it as an excuse. During the six-game homestand that just concluded, the temperature at Yankee Stadium never reached 60 degrees. Against the Atletics on Thursday, it barely touched 50.
“That’s one of the challenges you have to deal with early in the season, at times,” Boone said. “Both sides had the same conditions. Hopefully, when we get down [to St. Petersburg], we’ll get a couple of guys going. Obviously, we are going to face good pitching when we play the Rays. Hopefully, we’ll get some guys rolling.”
The Yankees are 8-4 and still atop the American League East despite the offensive freeze. The pitching staff remains one of the best in baseball. But with Luis Gil now in the rotation and Cole and Rodon still months away, the lineup will need to carry more of the weight.
Weathers proved Thursday he can hold up his end. The question is whether anyone will be there to hold up theirs.
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