OAKLAND, Calif. — Robinson Cano’s ninth-inning leadoff homer provided hope on a night when there was very little going around.
Yet, for as much of a jolt that the opposite-field blast delivered to the Yankees’ dugout, it didn’t last very long.
In fact, four batters later the Athletics were mobbing Brandon Moss on the field after his single to right off Cody Eppley scored Yoenis Cespedes from second to give Oakland a pulsating, 3-2, victory over the Yankees Friday night in front of 24,148 at the O.co Coliseum.
For a second straight night, the Yankees’ bats were muted by a young pitcher. Thursday night it was A.J. Griffin. Friday night, it was Tommy Milone.
“When you don’t get a lot of opportunities it’s hard to score runs,’’ manager Joe Girardi said of the 25-year-old Milone facing three batters with runners in scoring position across seven innings.
In losing consecutive games for the first time since July 2-3, the Yankees have scored five runs.
Milone, a 25-year-old lefty with the ability to throw several pitches for strikes, didn’t allow a run in seven innings. He gave up six hits, didn’t issue a walk and fanned a career-high 10.
Cano’s opposite-field homer to left starting the ninth tied the score, 2-2. Cano extended his hitting streak to a career-high 23 games with a seventh-inning single. He went 2-for-4.
Ivan Nova went 6 ²/₃ innings, allowed two runs and nine hits. Though he was effective pitching with runners on base, Nova struggled with the bags empty.
“He made some mistakes with the slider, he didn’t get it low enough,’’ Girardi said of Nova, who gave up a run in the third and another in the fourth but limited the A’s to 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
“With runners in scoring position I think I focus more than when there is nobody on base,’’ said Nova, who avoided a loss thanks to Cano’s homer.
Coupled with a victory by the second-place Orioles, the loss sliced the Yankees’ AL East lead to eight games.
Russell Martin greeted reliever Jerry Blevins with a leadoff homer — the Yankees’ first extra-base hit of the game — to left in the eighth that cut the Oakland advantage to 2-1. It was Martin’s 10th homer and gave the Yankees 10 players with double-digit home run totals.
Two outs later, Mark Teixeira was hit by a pitch on the left knee from Blevins, who was replaced by right-hander Evan Scribner. He needed one pitch to retire Alex Rodriguez on a stress-free fly to right.
After his single in the seventh, Cano made second on Nick Swisher’s ground out to the left side. Swisher left the game after the at-bat with a mild left hip flexor strain. Andruw Jones, who struck out four times, moved from left to right and Raul Ibanez went to left.
Girardi hooked Nova with two outs and runners at the corners in the seventh. Lefty Boone Logan surfaced and A’s manager Bob Melvin hit Jonny Gomes for the lefty-swinging Seth Smith. Logan walked Gomes and loaded the bases for the left-handed hitting Brandon Moss.
Logan required three pitches to strike out Moss and keep the deficit at 2-0. Milone fanned Jones and Jayson Nix to kill the scoring threat in the seventh. Jones and Nix were strikeout victims nine and 10 which established a career-high for Milone. The last A’s pitcher to whiff 10 Yankees was Bobby Witt on July 2, 1993.
Of Nova’s first six innings, only two — the second and sixth — were clean. Nevertheless, Nova stranded three runners in the first, one in the third, two in the fourth and one in the fifth.