A’s ambushed by Yankees in 12-2 loss

Not a very Happy Mother’s Day

The A’s wrapped up their weekend series against the Yankees on Sunday afternoon, getting throttled 12-2 on Mother’s Day in the finale to wrap up the home stand with a 2-4 record.

Taking to the hill today for the home team was Luis Severino. The longtime Yankee was making his first career start against the team he started his career on. After beginning the game with an encouraging 1-2-3 top of the first New York jumped all over Severino in the second inning, scoring five times off of four hits, two walks and a HBP. That put the A’s in a deep early hole, one that would get even deeper when the Yanks added on another run in the third. It was 6-0 already and the Athletics had only batted twice.

Facing left-hander Ryan Yarbrough, the A’s bats were silent for the first few frames today as they managed just a single and a walk early on in this contest. They would break through for their first run in the fourth when they strung together three singles, capped by ex-Yankee Miguel Andujar‘s RBI bloop:

That would ensure there would be no shutout at Sutter Health Park today. They’d add on their second and final run of the day in the next frame when center fielder JJ Bleday launched his fifth home run of the season:

The Yankees wouldn’t let their foot off the gas against Severino. While the A’s had chipped away at the lead it would soon be wiped away and then some as New York rallied again in the fifth. Back-to-back singles to open the frame chased the Athletics’ rotation leader, ending his day prematurely with Mitch Spence coming on in relief.

• Luis Severino: 4 IP, 9 H, 8 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 97 pitches

Just not a good start for Severino against a high-powered lineup. That’s the most runs he’s given up in an Athletics uniform and it jumped his ERA a whole point from 3.62 all the way to 4.70 through nine starts. He’ll look to bounce back next week against his next opponent, which lines up to be back in the Bay Area to take on the Giants.

Different pitcher, same result. New York continued their rally against Spence and ultimately scored five runs in the frame to bust this game wide open and add on another run in the seventh. Yarbrough would go on to pitch five full frames against the A’s before giving way to the bullpen. They didn’t put up much of a fight in the second half of the game today as they worked a pair of walks and one single against the New York bullpen. This game was a wrap.

Owch. New York came into Sacramento and took two of three, scoring double digit runs in each game this weekend. We knew going into this matchup that the Yankees’ lineup was dangerous but the A’s pitchers would tell you they didn’t bring their best stuff this weekend. The offense isn’t bailed out here either as they struggled against a New York pitching staff that has had its share of ups and downs this year. And to add injury to insult, the Athletics saw reliever TJ McFarland get injured today and will likely need to make a move in the bullpen:

The loss today sends the Athletics down to 21-20 which drops them to third place in the AL West. At least they won’t see these guys again until the next of June.

The club will have an off day tomorrow before hitting the road. They’ll embark on a California road trip as they’ll first head down to Los Angeles to take on the Dodgers starting Tuesday before seeing the Giants in San Francisco next weekend. The A’s have yet to announce their starters for the coming week so tune in later for an update.