Yankees' offense goes silent after fast start in loss to A's

Brent Rooker hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly off David Bednar in the ninth inning, and the Athletics rallied to beat the Yankees, 3-2, on Wednesday night at the Stadium.

Nick Kurtz singled leading off the ninth against Bednar (0-1), and Shea Langeliers doubled. Rooker lofted a fly ball to center and Kurtz scored without a play.

Elvis Alvarado (2-0) got two outs for an A’s bullpen that pitched four hitless innings in relief of Luis Severino.

Joel Kuhnel worked a perfect ninth for his second major league save, his first since 2022.

Ryan McMahon made his first big league start at shortstop for the Yankees. He made two other appearances at shortstop in late-inning switches totaling three innings for Colorado in 2020.

McMahon had five assists Wednesday and was 0-for-3 with a walk at the plate, dropping to 2-for-26 this season.

Severino, who pitched in the Yankees organization from 2012-23, allowed two runs in the first. He gave up four hits and five walks in five innings.

The Yankees went ahead seven pitches into the first on three straight singles, the last being Cody Bellinger’s blooper. After a pair of strikeouts, Severino forced in a run with eight straight balls. The A’s challenged the last, to J.C. Escarra, which ABS showed was 2.1 inches above the strike zone.

The A’s tied it 2-2 in the fourth on an RBI single by former Met Jeff McNeil, celebrating his 34th birthday, and Will Warren’s run-scoring wild pitch. McNeil is 8-for-16 on his birthday.

Ben Rice had the first four-strikeout game of his big league career as the Yankees went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position, dropping to 22-for-97 (.227) this year.

Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake was ejected by plate umpire Carlos Torres for arguing ball/strike calls from the dugout in the third inning.

Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe, recovering from left shoulder surgery on Oct. 14, could start a minor league rehabilitation assignment next week, manager Aaron Boone said.