Yankees streak reaches 12 with thrilling 7-6 win over the A’s

OAKLAND — Thursday night’s Yankees-A’s game had everything. An ejection, colossal home runs, a massive blown lead, and a costly throwing error that ultimately handed the Yankees their 12th straight victory.

“We’re playing well, we’re playing for a lot, and it’s a lot of fun to be a part of this team,” Aaron Boone said after the game.

Boone was ejected in the second inning of the Yankees’ 7-6 win for arguing balls and strikes. The Yankees (75-52) responded by taking a 6-0 lead, and by the bottom of the fifth inning it was gone. The visitors didn’t scratch the decisive run across until a stolen base and error put the go-ahead run on third with two down in the ninth. Aaron Judge continued his phenomenal season by muscling in the clutch RBI and eliciting a cheer from the Yankee fan cohort that was so loud, Boone could probably hear it from the clubhouse.

The ejection was Boone’s 16th in his four years at the helm, sparked by questionable third strike calls on Judge and Joey Gallo.

One batter after Boone’s ejection, Giancarlo Stanton seemed to transfer his manager’s frustration into his swing. The result was a classic Stanton home run, soaring 436 feet at 116 miles per hour.

The Yankees added on quickly after that with a Brett Gardner line drive into the stadium’s right field terrace seating. They’d come back in the third with an Anthony Rizzo RBI double off the glove of a diving Josh Harrison, then a no doubter from Gallo that hung in the air for an hour.

“Sometimes you’re hot and you feel good at the plate,” Gallo explained. “I just feel confident. It’s nice to have success off really good pitchers like that.”

The six-run lead seemed like more than enough for the Yankees at the time. The team touched down in Oakland with an impressive 11-game winning streak and their manager’s early exit got them going. Unfortunately for them, the games are nine innings at this level, and there was a lot of game left for the A’s to get six of their own.

Jameson Taillon’s night started off on a good foot. The Yankees’ pitcher who flipped a switch in July got through two score-free innings on just 17 pitches, watching his teammates spot him a six-run lead. Back-to-back solo home runs from Matt Chapman and Sean Murphy in the bottom of the third started Oakland’s march toward equal footing.

Taillon found himself in trouble again in the fourth after two walks and a single put a green shirt at every base. He issued another walk to Chapman, pushing home the Athletics’ third run, and after getting a big second out, could not put Elvis Andrus away. The veteran shortstop, who was celebrating his 33rd birthday on Thursday, singled up the middle to bring the A’s within one. It didn’t take long for them to officially tie it one inning later.

Josh Harrison wasted no time in his third at-bat. The first pitch he saw became a 404-foot home run to knot things up at six apiece. It was a stark reversal from the way things started, as the Yankees were the ones knocking balls into the deepest reaches of the RingCentral Coliseum, delighting the large section of Yankee fans seated behind their dugout. The notoriously rowdy Oakland faithful responded predictably when Harrison’s ball cleared the left field fence, setting up an exciting scene for the 8,147 fans who showed up.

Neither side did anything in the sixth, seventh or eighth inning. Clay Holmes handled the sixth for the Yankees and struck out Murphy, Andrus, and Mark Canha after a leadoff single. Jonathan Loaisiga blanked the A’s in the next two frames after the Yankees squandered a bases-loaded, one-out scenario in their half of the eighth. Rather than pinch hit with Luke Voit, bench coach turned temporary manager Carlos Mendoza let Brett Gardner hit against Sergio Romo. Gardner popped up on the infield, and Gio Urshela grounded out after him.

Not until the top of the ninth — with two outs no less — did the Yankees reclaim their lead. Pinch runner Tyler Wade bolted for second during Judge’s pressure-packed at-bat and the throw from Oakland catcher Sean Murphy was closer to the center fielder than his intended target. The speedster scampered into third, and Judge’s dying quail into right field went just far enough to find some grass. Wade scored easily, Aroldis Chapman put the finishing touches on his 300th career save, and the Yankees added an eventful notch to their 12-win belt.

“We are used to playing in these, no question,” Boone said after the game of his team’s propensity for close games. “The guys are definitely comfortable in these situations. There’s never any panic. They play with a lot of confidence when the game is on the line.”

“Every game we feel like we’re going to win,” Gallo said. “It’s a very positive and very fun clubhouse right now.”