The Yankees missed an opportunity Thursday, both in a game and in a series against a team headed nowhere (except Sacramento).
Aaron Boone’s team continually mounted threats and continually wasted those chances on a chilly night.
The Yankees lost, 3-1, to the A’s in front of 40,141 in The Bronx, a disappointing split with a club whose ownership is more focused on leaving Oakland than putting a competitive team on the field.
Against an opposing starting pitcher in Alex Wood who entered with a 7.89 ERA, the Yankees scored one run.
Fans who instead tuned in to the NFL draft or Knicks playoff game did not miss much.
The Yankees (17-9), who won four of seven on this homestand, on Friday will begin a seven-game trip through Milwaukee and Baltimore, both representing a step-up in competition.
The Yankees’ offense showed signs of breaking out of a collective funk Wednesday, when just about everyone contributed.
A night later, the Yankees managed 11 hits against the A’s (10-16), jammed the bases with 15 base runners but continually came up empty at opportune moments.
“You want to create that traffic, but you gotta deliver on it,” Boone said after his team left 11 on base. “We weren’t able to do that tonight.”
Of those 11 hits, just one came among their seven at-bats with runners in scoring position, and that one didn’t score a run. The problems in big moments began early.
The Yankees loaded the bases without an out seven pitches into Wood’s night.
But Giancarlo Stanton struck out before Anthony Rizzo grounded into a double play, which would become a theme.
They loaded the bases again in the fourth, partly because Stanton reached on an error then went station-to-station on a Rizzo single down the right-field line and a poked single from Alex Verdugo.
Verdugo’s hit represented their only clutch knock and ultimately was meaningless.
With the bases juiced and one out, Jose Trevino grounded into a double play.
“We want to get the big hit, it’d be good,” said Trevino, whose second home run of the season represented the only Yankees run. “But guys are stringing good at-bats together, guys are going deep into counts. Just how it’s going right now.”
The problem again arose in the fifth, when two reached before Stanton grounded out, and again in the sixth, when Oswaldo Cabrera grounded out with two on to extinguish a threat.
Even the Yankees’ run came with a smack of regret. In the second inning, Gleyber Torres was picked off first base.
Wood’s next pitch became a short-porch homer from Trevino, a solo shot instead of a two-run homer.
“Just unable to cash them in other than the Trevi homer,” Boone said after a mostly solid effort from Nestor Cortes was spoiled.
The lefty allowed three runs on five hits in seven innings but delivered two pitches he wanted back. It was familiar figures from Boone’s life who caused Cortes problems in the troublesome third inning.
Nick Allen, who is the A’s shortstop and who is married to Boone’s niece, smacked a solo home run off Cortes in the frame.
The A’s then took the lead for good a few batters later, when right fielder Tyler Nevin — the son of Boone pal and former Yankees third-base coach Phil Nevin — blasted a two-run homer to right that proved to be the difference.
The A’s tallied just six hits but two were homers.
The Yankees’ pokes didn’t add up to much, and the team surprisingly has been middle-of-the-pack in launching dingers.
“We’re going to hit homers once a couple guys get rolling here,” Boone said.
If the Yankees couldn’t get to the soft-tossing Wood, they weren’t going to touch the back of the A’s bullpen.
Fireballer Mason Miller struck out Juan Soto and induced a fly out from Aaron Judge to finish it off.
A night that featured plenty of frustration ended with domination, Miller reaching back for 101 mph heat to end the series.
“It’s 100-plus miles per hour, and it looks like that up close,” Boone said.
