Yankees' rally vs. A's falls short as 13-game winning streak comes to an end

During the New York Yankees’ Great Transformation from a .500 club to a pennant contender again, Aaron Judge has largely been their reliable, constant presence.

It has naturally taken efforts from the ensemble cast to achieve the Yankees’ longest winning streak since 1961.

Yet, on Saturday afternoon at Oakland, it was Judge who nearly carried his team to another victory.

Judge’s two-run homer provided a jolt in the ninth, but the Athletics closed out a 3-2 win at Oakland Coliseum – ending the Yanks’ winning streak at 13.

"(We) never feel like we're out of any ballgame ... no matter the situation,'' said Judge, reflecting on what had been the franchise's longest win streak in 60 years. 

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"Think it just shows what we're capable of.''

The faltering Athletics, in the midst of a bullpen crisis, called on veteran Sergio Romo to get the final three outs. 

And the A’s snapped their six-game losing streak, as Romo retired Giancarlo Stanton (pop up) and Joey Gallo (groundout) after yielding Judge’s third hit of the day – a no-doubt homer to left on a hanging slider.

Saturday marked Judge's fifth straight multi-hit game, batting .571 in that span (12-for-21) with three doubles, two homers and seven RBI.

Facing a Yankee team that had averaged 6.75 runs per game over their last eight games, Oakland starter Frankie Montas limited the Yanks to just two hits – both by Judge – over seven scoreless innings.

Using a sharp mix of splitters and sliders, the right-hander became the first starter to go seven innings against the Yanks since Aug. 1, when Miami’s Sandy Alcantara received a no-decision.

Yankees starter Nestor Cortes yielded three runs in 5.1 innings on four hits, including Matt Chapman’s fourth-inning solo homer for a 3-0 A's lead.

A series of bizarre umpiring decisions impacted both the A’s (71-59) and Yanks (76-53) in the second and third innings.

All three questionable plays involved third base umpire Will Little.

Controversial calls

With runners at the corners and Oakland leading 1-0 in the second, Little called a balk on Cortes, who had just picked off Tony Kemp (RBI single) at first base.

That sent Sean Murphy home with Oakland’s second run and sent the Yanks into a bit of a rage.

“I was very surprised that the third base umpire was the one who made the call,’’ said the lefty Cortes, who still isn’t sure what he did wrong.

Cortes was later reprimanded by plate umpire Tony Randazzo after Cortes looked back at Little following a fourth-inning pickoff throw to first base.

Chad Pinder had opened the second-inning rally with a two-out double, with the close call at second base unsuccessfully challenged by the Yanks. 

Now with their replay challenge spent, the Yanks were upset in the third inning when catcher Gary Sanchez had seemingly thrown out Starling Marte attempting to steal third.

Marte was called safe by Little, but the Yanks had already lost their first challenge and couldn’t get the umps to review this call.

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It all came out in the Yanks’ favor anyway, but for all the wrong reasons.

With the infield in and one out, Yan Gomes’ lined out to DJ LeMahieu, who threw to Rougned Odor to double up Marte.

Little made the third out call, but Odor was clearly off the bag when he took LeMahieu’s throw.

The A’s challenged, but Little’s out call was stunningly upheld by replay review. In a futile argument, A’s manager Bob Melvin was ejected by Randazzo.

Meanwhile, Cortes was cackling as he watched Little make the third out call in real time.

“Just frustrated with what was going on,’’ said Cortes. “I feel like (Little) had a rough first three innings at third base,’’ and it was an emotional reaction.

“Because right now, we would have been tied in the ninth inning,’’ if not for the balk call that plated a run."    

Pete Caldera is the Yankees beat writer for NorthJersey.com. Email: caldera@northjersey.com; Twitter: @pcaldera