Yanks' ninth-inning – Down 5 runs entering the ninth, the Yankees loaded the bases on consecutive walks by Ben Rice, Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger—then couldn’t finish. Jazz Chisholm Jr. grounded out to first to end the threat, and New York fell 6-4 to the Athletics at Sutter Heal
WEST SACRAMENTO — The Yankees didn’t just lose a game on Saturday night. They ran their own comeback right to the edge of the cliff and then watched the final step disappear.
Down by five when the ninth inning began against the Athletics at Sutter Health Park. New York didn’t wait for a mistake. Ben Rice. Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger drew consecutive walks. with each one forcing in runs and trimming the deficit to two. The go-ahead run was on base. The sellout crowd felt the turn. The inning had momentum.
Then it tightened.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. grounded out to first base to end the threat, and the Yankees’ five-game win streak ended with their 6-4 loss to the A’s.
Third baseman Ryan McMahon. whose one-out bloop single into center field sparked the rally. summed it up with a kind of frustration that sounded worn-in. “We put up a good fight,” he said. “You can’t win them all. but it was good to at least put some pressure on them and show them that we’re never out of anything.”.
The sequence had started earlier, with McMahon’s hit and a walk from J.C. Escarra that kept the pressure climbing. After Anthony Volpe struck out, the A’s reliever Jack Perkins walked Trent Grisham to load the bases. The Athletics replaced Perkins with Scott Barlow. and New York kept making him earn his outs—walking Rice. Judge and Bellinger in order as the crowd savored the drama.
But the A’s didn’t blink.
Nick Kurtz—first baseman for Oakland—caught the inning’s final chance. He snagged a 91.3 mph chopper from Chisholm Jr. and jogged to first base for the final out.
The rally was loud, but the damage had already been done.
Kurtz delivered the biggest blow for the A’s earlier, too. In the bottom of the seventh with two outs, he hit a two-run homer off Yankees starter Ryan Weathers. Instead of New York trailing 3-1 with Judge set to lead off the eighth, the Yankees suddenly found themselves down four.
The moment had physical signs. Kurtz’s first-pitch shot—off an up-and-in fastball—sailed just over Grisham’s glove in center field. Weathers sank to a knee on the mound, and Grisham slumped into a sitting position on the warning track. It was also Weathers’ final pitch of the night.
Weathers wasn’t just charged with that homer. It was his third home run allowed on the night. following a two-run blast by Shea Langeliers in the first inning and a Tyler Soderstrom solo shot in the sixth. He was charged with five runs. snapping a streak of six straight quality starts by Yankees pitchers that dated back to Gerrit Cole on May 22.
When Weathers walked Colby Thomas after getting the first two outs of the seventh, manager Aaron Boone came out for a visit. Even with right-hander Camilo Doval warming in the bullpen, Boone didn’t intend to pull his starter.
“I don’t question leaving him in there for Kurtz,” Boone said. “I’m going to take my left-on-left shot there with two outs. After he got those first two and had thrown quite a few pitches to that point, that’s the one where maybe I go to Doval there.”
That decision became harder to defend because New York’s offense couldn’t consistently cash in—especially before the ninth.
The Yankees left 10 runners on base. They stranded two in the fourth when Austin Wells flied out to center field. and two more in the seventh when Rice struck out on a 3-2 curveball. ending the inning. Before the ninth. New York’s only run came in the fourth when Chisholm stole second base and an error allowed Bellinger to race home from third.
One swing looked like it might completely flip the game. With two outs in the fifth, Judge hit a 362-foot drive to right field. It was close enough to feel like the story changing on impact. but it came up just short—an inning-ending flyout at Sutter Health Park. Boone called the ending “Love the finish. ” but New York couldn’t get the hump over the top at any other point.
In the final inning, the Yankees showed patience with full counts and payoff pitches taken well out of the zone. Rice, Judge and Bellinger each worked deep into counts, and Chisholm did, too—working the count to 2-2 before grounding out.
Even Weathers couldn’t quite shake the moment that ended his night. He spoke directly about the pitch, and about what he’d seen after the fact.
“He’s a really good player,” Weathers said. “I could have spun him there, but hindsight’s 20-20. If I’m looking at it, I probably should have thrown a different pitch or at least executed a little bit better.”
Boone’s assessment landed somewhere between optimism and disappointment.
“Love the finish,” he said. “Just couldn’t quite get over the hump there.”
Yankees Athletics Sutter Health Park Ben Rice Aaron Judge Cody Bellinger Jazz Chisholm Jr. Ryan Weathers Nick Kurtz Ryan McMahon J.C. Escarra Trent Grisham Jack Perkins Scott Barlow Aaron Boone Weathers homer Yankees win streak ends at 5