Yankees.com: Cortes takes first Bronx loss since ’22 as bats falter in clutch

From Bill Ladson:

The Yankees had A’s left-hander Alex Wood on the ropes throughout Thursday’s game at Yankee Stadium, but they couldn’t get the big hit and lost to Oakland, 3-1.

The two clubs ended up splitting the four-game series, and won’t see each other again until Sept. 20-22 when they play a three-game series in Oakland.

It was a game that saw New York go 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position against Wood and four relievers. Take the first inning, when the Yankees had the bases loaded with no outs, only to see the threat fizzle out when Giancarlo Stanton struck out and Anthony Rizzo hit into a double play.

“Bases loaded and no outs, to punch out Stanton and then get a double play, that felt pretty good,” Wood said. “It kept us in it. The game could have got out of hand in the first inning, especially against a lineup like that. I was happy to get out of there unscathed, just felt really good overall.”

It was quite simply a pathetic display by the Yankees’ hitters.

I mean, to a certain extent, some of it was bad luck (as even a shitty team typically scores more than a runner with that many baserunners AND a home run! Think about it, they scored a run off of a home run, and thus didn’t get a single run off of, what, 14 baserunners? That’s insane!), but a lot of it was just shitty clutch hitting. Wood wasn’t even GOOD, the Yankees just never broke him, even though they obviously should have, and done so EARLY, with the bases loaded and no outs in the FIRST INNING, to have Stanton strike out, and Rizzo ground into an inning-ending DP.

So, yes, very pathetic performance, although I don’t think this A’s team is as bad as they have been, so I don’t think it’s quite as bad, as, say, splitting four games with this same team last year.