The Yankees failed to get a single run, let alone a split of the four-game series, in Oakland Sunday. Right-hander Adam Warren threw seven innings of two-run ball and now his ERA in his last five starts is 2.87, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Yankees lack of offense as the club has lost five of their last six series.
Fans in attendance were treated to a pitching duel before Stephen Vogt broke the scoreless tie with a two-run home run against Warren in the sixth inning. Vogt, who is hitting .322 and the home run was his 11th this year, showed how good of a hitter he was last season before hurting his foot. Fully healthy this year, Vogt is having a true breakout season.
Vogt’s battery mate Sunday, Jesse Chavez, is also having quite a season so far. With eight shutout innings against the Yankees, Chavez’ ERA on the season is down to 2.11 in nearly 60 innings. He picked up his second victory of the season as he just hasn’t been getting run support from the Oakland offense. Vogt’s home run broke a streak of 27 innings with Chavez in the game without the Athletics scoring once.
Top WPA Play: Vogt’s home run (+.187), which was kind of a wall-scraper. Carlos Beltran seemed to think he had a chance at catching it.
Key Moment(s): The Yankees had two batters reach base in each of the first two innings, but, of course, came up empty. In the first inning, Chase Headley and Alex Rodriguez singled with one out before Chavez struck out Mark Teixeira and Beltran grounded out to end the inning. In the second inning, Ramon Flores and Didi Gregorius singled with one out before Chavez got Jose Pirela to hit into a line drive double play. The double play in the second inning seemed like even more of a missed opportunity because the Yankees had run Chavez’ pitch count up to 41 with still only one out. He seemed to settle in after the double play as he tossed another six shutout frames on just 68 pitches the rest of the way.
Up Next: You don’t want to miss this one as the Yankees continue their west coast trip in Seattle. On Monday night, Michael Pineda (6-2, 3.36 ERA) will square off with the Mariners Felix Hernandez (8-1, 1.91 ERA). It’s looking like Pineda will have to hold the Mariners offense at bay to keep the Yankees in this one as King Felix has been tremendous recently throwing a complete game shutout against the Rays in his last start.
(Photo: Katie L. Cox-USA Today Sports)