A's end Yankees' winning streak at 13 games as Aaron Judge's two-run homer in ninth leaves them a run short

OAKLAND, Calif. — An offense that did more than its fair share as the Yankees reeled off 13 straight victories almost singlehandedly kept their streak from reaching 14 on Saturday.

With Oakland righthander Frankie Montas shutting down everyone in the lineup not named Aaron Judge, the Yankees’ winning streak was snapped at 13 in a 3-2 loss to the A’s in front of 18,337 at Oakland Coliseum.

The Yankees (76-53), who came in having won 35 of their last 46 games and 25 of their last 30, were beaten for the first time since the 9-8 loss to the White Sox on Aug. 12 in the Field of Dreams Game in Dyersville, Iowa.

An offense that scored at least five runs in 11 of the 13 games was held to three hits entering the ninth inning, two by Judge.

"A loss is a loss," said Judge, who went 3-for-4, including a two-run homer with one out in the ninth. "It’s time to start another streak.''

After Anthony Rizzo singled, Judge — swinging the hottest bat on a team full of players swinging hot bats — crushed Sergio Romo's hanging slider to leftfield for his 29th homer to make it 3-2. That made him 28-for-73 (.384) with seven home runs and 21 RBIs in the last 20 games. But Giancarlo Stanton, whose on-base streak was snapped at 23 games, popped up a hanging slider and Joey Gallo grounded to second to end it.

The Yankees fell five games behind the AL East-leading Rays and lead Boston by two games in the battle for the first wild card.

The A’s (71-59), who snapped a six-game skid, got seven scoreless innings from Montas, who allowed two hits — both to Judge — and one walk. Montas, who retired 15 straight after Judge’s two-out double in the first, struck out six.

The Yankees simply ran into a pitcher as hot as they are. In his last nine starts, Montas has a 2.06 ERA and a 0.97 WHIP and has struck out 72 in 56 2/3 innings.

"He filled up the zone and was ahead for the most part," Aaron Boone said. "Credit him for being on the attack. He kept us at bay for the most part. His strike-throwing and ability to get ahead made it tough for us."

Nestor Cortes, 2-1 with a 2.56 ERA coming in, was merely OK, allowing three runs, four hits and three walks in 5 1/3 innings in which he struck out four.

"At the end of the day, we didn’t do enough to back Nestor," Rizzo said.

Judge extended his on-base streak to 20 games in the first with a two-out double, but Stanton struck out to end the inning.

The A’s took their first lead of the series in the second. With two outs, Chad Pinder doubled — Judge made a strong throw to DJ LeMahieu, but the safe call at second withstood a replay challenge by the Yankees — and Sean Murphy walked. Tony Kemp then banged a first-pitch curveball back up the middle for an RBI single that moved Murphy to third. With Josh Harrison at the plate, Cortes balked to make it 2-0.

Starling Marte, a trade target of the Yankees who ended up in the Bay Area, led off the third with a grounder to third, and Rougned Odor's throwing error allowed Marte to take second. Marte then stole third; he appeared to be out, but the Yankees already had used their challenge.

No matter. After Matt Olson struck out looking, Yan Gomes hit a liner right at second baseman LeMahieu, who doubled off Marte. He appeared to be safe, but a replay challenge upheld the call, which caused A’s manager Bob Melvin to get ejected.

In the fourth, Matt Chapman lined a drive to left-center for his 20th homer and a 3-0 lead.

The Yankees had never trailed by as many as three runs during their winning streak, according to YES researcher James Smyth, and had trailed by any number of runs in only four of those games. The last time they trailed by three runs was the ninth inning of the Field of Dreams Game, and they rallied to take a one-run lead before Tim Anderson's walk-off two-run homer.

LeMahieu ended Montas’ streak at 15 consecutive batters retired with a two-out walk in the sixth, but Rizzo struck out. Judge opened the seventh with a single, but Stanton struck out and Gallo grounded into an inning-ending 3-5-3 double play.

"It just shows what we’re capable of," Judge said of the winning streak. "It’s something I’ve preached all year about this team — this team is capable of a lot of great things."

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.