A's begin final homestand in Oakland with extra-inning loss to Yankees

OAKLAND, Calif. — If the New York Yankees had any sympathy for the plight of the A’s — a team that now has just five home games remaining at the Oakland Coliseum — that sympathy wasn’t expressed between the chalk lines.

The A’s (67-87) began their final homestand at the Oakland Coliseum with an extra-inning 4-2 loss to the Yankees (90-64) as T.J. McFarland allowed three runs (two earned) to the Bronx Bombers in the top of the 10th inning.

Lawrence Butler stole his 16th base of the season in the fourth inning, tying Jimmy Sexton (1982) for the most steals by an A’s player in a single season without being caught.

J.T. Ginn rebounded from allowing a career-high 10 hits in his last outing and pitched five innings of one-run ball with four strikeouts to one walk.

Butler and Shea Langeliers generated the game’s first run in the fourth inning. Butler began the frame with a single that snuck under first baseman Anthony Rizzo’s glove, then advanced to second base on a delayed steal. With two outs in the frame, Langeliers pulled Gerrit Cole’s 2-2 curveball into left field, easily scoring Butler from second base and giving the A’s a 1-0 lead.

The following half-inning, the Yankees had their equalizer. Ginn recorded two quick outs to begin the fifth inning, but walked Anthony Rizzo and allowed a single to Trent Grisham. That set the table for Anthony Volpe, who extended his arms and slapped a single into right field, easily scoring Rizzo and tying the game up at one apiece.

The score remained tied until the top of the 10th inning as the Yankees landed their haymaker. Oswaldo Cabrera scored the go-ahead run on a passed ball. Juan Soto, scratched from the starting lineup, entered off the bench and drove in a run with an opposite-field double. Volpe followed Soto’s lead, shooting a single into right field that scored Soto. New York, in a blink, had a 4-1 lead, and chants of, “Let’s go Yankees!” reverberated throughout the stadium.

Oakland did not go quietly. JJ Bleday began the bottom of the 10th inning with an opposite-field hit, easily scoring Brent Rooker from second base and slicing the deficit to two runs, but that would be the extent of the A’s offense.