WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Yankees nearly pulled off a miraculous ninth-inning comeback Saturday night by almost never swinging the bat.
It ultimately fell short, making for a tough 6-4 loss to the Athletics at Sutter Health park, but not before a wild finish.
The Yankees entered the ninth inning trailing 6-1 and A’s reliever Jack Perkins got it started by striking out Paul Goldschmidt. Ryan McMahon then hit a bloop single and J.C. Escarra walked before Anthony Volpe struck out.
From that point on, over the final 28 pitches of the game, the Yankees swung just twice and it almost proved to be a winning recipe against the wild A’s bullpen.
Perkins walked Trent Grisham on five pitches to load the bases before Scott Barlow entered and walked Ben Rice, Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger, each on a full count, to force in three runs. Of that group. Judge had the only swing, taking a big hack through a curveball in the zone.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. then worked a 2-2 count on Barlow before grounding out, stranding the tying run on second base.
“Just great at-bats to give us a chance there,” manager Aaron Boone said. “To not only get the tying run to the plate but then have the go-ahead runs on base there at the end, just a lot of patient, real quality at-bats, forcing them to come into the zone.”
The Yankees’ six baserunners in the ninth inning came after they had nine through the first eight innings combined.
“There was a lot of belief that we were going to come through and do it,” McMahon said. “It didn’t go our way, but putting pressure on a team like that, they’ll remember that, and next time we’re down, hopefully we come through.”
The Yankees played a man short Saturday night and likely will again on Sunday after Amed Rosario was placed on the paternity list shortly before the game.
The utilityman left clubhouse in street clothes a few hours before first pitch to head home for the birth of his child, and because of the timing, it did not make sense to fly a replacement cross-country just for Sunday’s series finale before the Yankees return home for an off day Monday.
Players may take up to three days on the paternity list, meaning Rosario could be back on the active roster by the time the Yankees open a homestand on Tuesday against the Guardians.
Since going through an 0-for-24 skid earlier this month, McMahon finished Saturday batting 9-for-29 (.310) with a .965 OPS over his last eight games.
“Just trying to trust it,” McMahon said. “This game’s extremely hard. Just trying to work every single day so I can go out there and try to do things to help the team win.”
With a pair of walks, Grisham has now reached base multiple times in each of his last four games and seven of his last nine.
His on-base percentage was up to .329, the highest it had been since April 13.
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Luis Severino landed on the 15-day injured list Saturday with a right shoulder strain after leaving Friday’s game against his old teammates before the second inning started.
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