OAKLAND, Calif. — For 13 straight games, the Yankees made nearly every play, came through with every big hit … and won every game.
That came to a halt on Saturday, in a sloppy 3-2 loss to the Athletics at Oakland Coliseum, where the Yankees’ longest winning streak in 50 years was snapped.
They still managed to make it interesting in the ninth.
After generating nothing against right-hander Frankie Montas for seven innings and getting blanked by Andrew Chafin in the eighth, the Yankees finally got going in the ninth against Sergio Romo.
DJ LeMahieu lined out to lead off, but Anthony Rizzo blooped a single to left before Aaron Judge homered deep to left to pull the Yankees to within a run.
But Giancarlo Stanton popped out and Joey Gallo grounded out to end it.
The Yankees’ defense wasn’t good and Nestor Cortes wasn’t as sharp as he had been in recent starts, but the main culprit Saturday was a lineup that had been clicking as well as it has all year.
Montas faced just two batters over the minimum and allowed just a pair of hits to Judge and a walk to LeMahieu.
The Yankees’ offense, red-hot going into Saturday, was silent for much of the afternoon.
They went into the game having homered 10 times in their previous three games, a season-high for a three-game stretch, and having scored at least five runs in their previous eight games, also a season-best.
But after Judge’s two-out double in the top of the first, the Yankees didn’t get another runner in scoring position against Montas, who entered the game with a 2.54 ERA over his previous 10 starts.
The Yankees fell behind 2-0 in the bottom of the second.
Cortes retired the first two batters in the inning before Chad Pinder doubled to center, just beating the throw from Judge. Cortes walked Sean Murphy on four pitches and Tony Kemp followed with a single up the middle to score Pinder and send Murphy to third.
With runners on the corners, Cortes attempted to pick off Kemp at first and was called for a balk by third-base umpire Will Little, allowing Murphy to score to make it 2-0,
Cortes and Rizzo argued the call to no avail before Cortes escaped the inning.
Little missed a call at third the following inning, when Starling Marte stole third, but was tagged out by Odor in time.
Since the Yankees had already lost their challenge, the call stood.
Yan Gomes followed with a liner caught by LeMahieu to the left of second base. LeMahieu threw to third to double up Marte, but Odor’s foot was off the bag. Little called him out, anyway, and Oakland stunningly lost the challenge, leading to manager Bob Melvin’s ejection.
The A’s added another run in the fourth, when Matt Chapman led off with a homer to left-center.
Judge opened the top of the seventh with a single for just the Yankees’ second hit of the afternoon
But Stanton whiffed and Gallo hit into a double play.