About Last Night: A's 3, Yanks 2

By Mike Whiteman 8/28/2022

*** Happy Birthday Ron Guidry and Lou Piniella, two vital cogs to the great 1970s Yankee teams: https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/Ron-Guidry/

https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/Lou-Piniella/

Quick Stats:

• The Yankees are 78-49 on the season. They lead the American League East by eight and a half games. They have the second best record in the American League – behind only Houston.

• As of this morning the Yankees are on pace for 99 wins.

• The Yanks are 14-21 since the All-Star break, and 9-15 in August.
  

The Big Story:

Starting pitchers Domingo German and rookie Adam Oller of the A’s locked into a real pitcher’s duel, neither yielding a hit in the first five innings. The red-hot Oswaldo Cabrera broke through with a double in the sixth but was subsequently picked off. Nick Allen of Oakland scratched out an infield single for the A’s first hit in the bottom of the frame, but he was left stranded. Both teams held their opponents scoreless through eight innings, with German getting a little help from Jonathan Loaisiga to get out of the eighth. Loaisiga has been one the few positive developments on the team in August, coming into the game with a 2.35 ERA for the month. He allowed a single in the ninth, and yielded to Ron Marinaccio, who has been so good this season. The Yankee rookie kept the good times going and got out of the jam, and to extras we went! In the tenth, the Yanks parlayed a fielder’s choice (throwing out the runner placed on second), an intentional walk, a hit by pitch, a wild pitch, and an Oakland throwing error into two runs. It looked like they might steal a win – still with only one hit! Aaron Boone then sent Marinaccio out in the tenth, but unfortunately he couldn’t close the deal, allowing a two-run pinch-hit home run to Steven Vogt, who came into the game with a .158 batting average and .292 slugging percentage for the year. Prior to Vogt’s shot, lefthanded batters had only four hits in 56 at bats against Marinaccio. It was that kind of night. Marinaccio continued to struggle, allowed a baserunner on a strikeout/wild pitch and another on single by Tony Kemp. Boone turned to former Athletic Lou Trivino, who struck out Shea Langeliers and we moved to the 11th.

After the Yanks again went down in order in the top of the frame, Trevino walked the A’s leadoff hitter, then induced Seth Brown to fly out. Chad Pinder bounced a grounder to Isiah Kiner-Falefa who flipped to DJ LeMahieu for one out, and DJL threw ……wide of first, and past Anthony Rizzo. Langeliers, the runner placed at second base at the beginning of the inning came around and scored and the A’s walked off with a 3-2 win.

Player of the Game: Congrats to Adam Oller for a great outing, allowing only one hit in eight innings.

Notable Performances: Domingo German looked very good, even if it was against one of the worst offenses in baseball. All you can do is compete against the team in front of you, and the Yankee right hander did great. He now has a 1.84 ERA since the August trade deadline.

Better to Forget: In addition to the hitting woes, Aaron Judge and Oswaldo Cabrera both were picked off. Sloppy.

My take: A terrible, ugly loss to the worst team in the American League. I’ve been optimistic about this team even as they struggled, but after watching this game…. Adam Oller came into the game with a 6.41 ERA and averaging two home runs and ten hits allowed per nine innings. So, of course he held the Yankees to one hit over eight innings. Credit the A’s for not giving up when behind in the tenth. Toronto, Tampa and Houston lost last night, a wasted chance for the Yanks to add distance between the teams pursuing them in the AL East, and to close in on the Astros for the best record in the AL. Next Up: Go for the Series win! Clarke Schmidt (5-2, 2.18) goes against another A’s rookie Adrian Martinez (2-3, 6.08).