Oakland loses in the rarest way, throw away Sean Manaea’s gems

History was made on Father’s Day at Yankee Stadium, and Oakland A was on the wrong side.

With tie play in scoring positions and the green light for first in ninth against flamethrower Aroldis Chapman, Sean Murphy delivered a dripping jammed shot to Yankees third baseman Gio Urshela, needing just one jump. to get the power out in the third and turn it into the second. With Murphy pacing back and forth, the second baseman snatched it up to be the first for game-ending triple play.

Triple play sealed a 2-1 Yankees win and handed A their first road draw loss of the season so far. It also marked the first time that Athletics had lost a triple play game since May 5, 1903 in a match against the New York Highlanders.

“That’s a pretty crazy thing going on,” said Matt Olson. “Obviously we picked up some steam there. Chapman struggled to find the zone. Looks like he’s pulling a fast ball on the inside to make Murphy jam a bit. Urshela happened to be in the right place. Couldn’t have been more — routine isn’t the right word — but a triple play setup. S—- luck. It’s a hard way to lose.”

A few inches and a bit of bad luck make all the difference in a bittersweet one-round game. Matt Olson’s 20th home run of the season was their only run, and he came inches from lobbing three home runs at a difficult 45-degree launch angle — Aaron Judge caught him in the wall.

Matt Chapman was a few feet shy of hitting home runs twice. The second ball fell between the gloves of outfielder Clint Frazier an inch from the wall in the middle for a triple one-out in the eighth inning. Olson struck and Laureano flew out in the warning lane to snuff out the chances that tied the game.

“It ended up being an inch game today, literally,” said manager Bob Melvin.

It looked like the A made a few inches back in the ninth inning when Chapman, dealing with a nail problem, couldn’t find the attack zone. The closer goes back-to-back to Jed Lowrie and Tony Kemp. Murphy saw a fastball that could be hit, he tried to draw a line, but it bounced to Urshela in the worst location.

“I’ve never seen a game end like that before,” said Melvin.

Sean Manaea’s big day: Manaea endured the loss despite displaying one of her best games of the year.

He entered his start Sunday having not allowed a single run in two starts at Yankee Stadium. Through five dominant innings, it looks like Manaea is able to maintain her streak.

The ballast is averaging two miles per hour faster than average, Manaea hitting a career-high 11 strokes in 5 1/3 innings. The ballast made 17 hits and missed; according to field analyst site Codify, it was the most swings and errors on that course this season (previous best was 13). But back-to-back runs in the sixth and Gary Sanchez’s two-run tarnished his clean slate.

“The Frazier at bat may have taken a bit from him,” said Melvin. “That’s what happens in close-range play, in the end it becomes one hit.”

Even though he is no longer scoring goals at Yankee Stadium, Manaea can capitalize on this performance along with his pair of complete games as one of the best of the season. Throwing in her main sinker and changeup, Manaea only allowed two hits until the inning hit was troubled. It helps that he took the bullpen off before starting this, saying he was feeling “a little tired” this week. With consistent arm and slot speed, the turn is played to perfection from his two stitches to keep the Yankees on their toes.

“They had a hard time figuring him out,” Olson said. “From what I saw, it was fastball, changes almost all day too. Didn’t do too many sliders and it’s hard to make a match like that against this lineup with two throws. The fastball looked like it exploded from his hand.”

Between walking up to Clint Frazier and Aaron Judge, Manaea attacked DJ LeMahieu for the 11th strikeout. It wasn’t just a career high for Manaea – he has 10 four times in his career, including this May against the Tampa Bay Rays – but the most by a pitcher A in less than six innings since Kirk Saarloos hit 11 in 2006. Hudson is the only other A pitcher to do so, striking 11 in 1999 in five innings as well.