Ryan Weathers, Yankees sunk by home runs in loss to A’s as winning streak ends

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Yankees do seem to like Ryan Weathers, but they have a funny way of showing it for their new teammate.

The left-hander took the mound on Saturday night and an offense that had been red-hot went cold, until it was too late — just barely.

It gave Weathers little margin for error, and another strong outing for him turned sour when he gave up his third home run of the night on his 107th and final pitch — resulting in five runs — as the Yankees snapped a five-game winning streak with a 6-4 loss to the Athletics.

The Yankees made a wild final push in the top of the ninth, loading the bases with two outs and forcing in three runs on three straight full-count walks by Ben Rice, Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger.

But Jazz Chisholm Jr. grounded out to end it.

Had the Yankees (35-23) been able to put more runs on the board by the seventh inning, when they trailed 3-1, it is possible that Aaron Boone would have taken out Weathers before Nick Kurtz took him deep for a two-run shot with two outs in the bottom of the seventh.

Boone visited the mound right before the at-bat, following a full-count walk, and stuck with Weathers, only for him to throw one more pitch — a 94 mph fastball up and in — that the left-handed hitting Kurtz deposited just over the wall in center field.

It made for a rough ending on a night when Weathers struck out 10 across 6 ²/₃ innings but was victimized by three long balls — a two-run homer from Shea Langeliers in the first inning, a solo shot from Tyler Soderstrom in the sixth and a two-run blast from Kurtz in the seventh — and a lack of support from his offense.

For the eighth time in Weathers’ 11 starts, the Yankees scored two runs or fewer while he was in the game.

They have now averaged 2.95 runs scored per nine innings while Weathers is pitching.

This week alone, Yankees starters had received plenty of run support, only for that to dry up on Saturday for their first loss in over a week.

Weathers became the first Yankees starter in the last nine games to allow more than two runs, though the offense was partly to blame as it got held in check by A’s righty J.T. Ginn.

When it was still a 3-1 game in the top of the seventh, the Yankees had a chance to pull even or take the lead, putting runners on first and second with two outs.

But lefty reliever Hogan Harris threw a looping 3-2 curveball that got Rice whiffing to squash the threat.

The A’s (28-30) came out making loud contact against Weathers in the bottom of the first, leading to a 2-0 lead — and the Yankees may have been lucky it was only that.

Four of the five balls the A’s put into play came off the bat at exit velocities of 102 mph or higher, including Langeliers’ homer — off the bat at 109.2 mph — that came on Weathers’ 97 mph fastball that was over the heart of the plate.

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But Weathers limited the damage and then used a five-pitch second inning to settle into his outing, allowing only four hard-hit balls the rest of the way — including the home runs to Soderstrom and Kurtz.

The Yankees had a single in each of the first three innings, wasting it each time, before forcing the issue on the bases in the fourth inning — leading to a pair of errors that helped them cut into the lead, though they missed a prime opportunity to do more than that.

After Cody Bellinger drew a one-out walk, Chisholm roped a single to center field that Henry Bolte bobbled briefly, allowing Bellinger to take off for third to put runners on the corners.

Then, with Paul Goldschmidt at the plate, Chisholm stole second, and second baseman Zack Gelof could not handle the throw as it trickled into center field.

Bellinger came in the back door to score, making it a 2-1 game, as Chisholm took third.

Goldschmidt eventually walked to put runners on the corners again, but the Yankees could not take advantage.

Ryan McMahon, who had homered in back-to-back games, struck out and Austin Wells, who singled in his first at-bat but has struggled for most of the season, flew out to end the rally.