Rooker's 9th-inning sacrifice fly lifts Athletics over Yankees 3-2
NEW YORK (AP) — Brent Rooker hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly off David Bednar in the ninth inning, and the Athletics rallied to beat the New York Yankees 3-2 on Wednesday night. Nick Kurtz singled leading off the ninth against Bednar (0-1), and Shea Langeliers doubled. Rooker lofted a flyball to center field 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. New York's Ryan McMahon made his first big league start at shortstop, where he had two prior appearances in late-inning switches totaling three innings for Colorado in 2020.
He had five assists 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.
New York 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.