OAKLAND, Calif. – Oakland A’s starting pitcher James Kaprielian didn’t the call he was looking for with one out in the second inning, as a fastball that appeared to catch the bottom of the strike zone on a 2-2 count against Isiah Kiner-Falefa was instead called ball three.
With the bases loaded, Kiner-Falefa then singled Kaprielian’s next pitch to center field, as the New York Yankees took a two-run lead.
It was all downhill from there for the A’s, and Kaprielian, who was charged with eight earned runs in 22/3 innings in what became a 13-4 win for the Yankees before an announced crowd of 10,876 at the Coliseum.
A’s right-handed pitcher Joel Payamps had to be helped off the field in the top of the eighth inning after he was hit in the left leg by a comebacker from Yankees catcher Kyle Higashioka.
Infielder Sheldon Neuse assumed pitching duties for the A’s and with overhand throws that barely eclipsed 40 mph, retired five straight Yankees batters.
At that point, the A’s probably just wanted the game to end.
Kaprielian, who was drafted by the Yankees in the first round of th 2015 MLB Draft before he was traded to the A’s in 2017, finished with a career-high six walks as New York tacked on two more runs in the second and four more in the third to pretty much seal the victory.
Shea Langeliers provided one of the A’s lone offensive highlights, as he hit his second career home run, a 419-foot blast to left in the sixth inning off Yankees starter Jameson Taillon. That cut New York’s lead to 10-1.
The A’s trailed 13-1 before a bizarre bottom of the seventh inning that saw three hit batters, two walks, one balk, and one single.
Yankees right-hander Greg Weissert, a New York native, made his adventurous MLB debut in the seventh and immediately hit Jonah Bride and balked him to second base.
Weissert then hit Skye Bolt, walked Tony Kemp to load the bases and walked Vimael Machín to bring in the A’s second run.
Weissert was then pulled by Yankees manager Aaron Boone in favor of lefty Licas Luetge, who hit Seth Brown with a pitch to score Bolt, and allowed an infield single to Langeliers that scored Kemp.
Thursday’s game was the first of a four-game series between the A’s and Yankees. The two teams again have wildly different payrolls. New York, per Spotrac, has a total player payroll of over $252 million while Oakland’s is slightly more than $47 million.
The Yankees might be ready to break out of a nearly month-long slumber, too.
Boone was near his wits’ end less than a week ago after he saw his team lose for the 14th time in 18 games.
“We’ve got to play better, period,” Boone said before slamming his fist on a table after a 5-2 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays. “And the great thing is, it’s right in front of us.”
Don’t the Oakland A’s know it? New York had 20 hits Thursday as it won its third straight game to maintain a 71/2-game lead in the American League East.
