Yankees dominate as A’s pitching, hitting continue to slump in West Sacramento
The game was out of hand, but that likely mattered less to Brent Rooker than the miserable streak he was trying to end.
Down 8-1 in the bottom of the ninth inning to the New York Yankees on Friday, the A’s 2025 All-Star slugger walked to the plate mired in an 0-for-17 slump. His batting average coming into the game was a miserable .189. His .626 on-base plus slugging percentage was nearly .200 worse than his mark for his career.
Rooker’s rough go in 2026 has coincided with the A’s slumping offense, as they dropped their fourth straight game and six of their last seven. They fell out of first place in the American League West while getting swept earlier in the week by the Seattle Mariners. Things didn’t get any better Friday with 8-2 loss to New York, the seventh time the A’s have scored three runs or fewer in the past eight games.
But Rooker had fight left in him. Like any veteran hitter, he knows one at-bat can snap a season back into place. A hot streak can start with a hard-hit ball just as easily as a downturn can begin with a strikeout.
Rooker in the ninth inning worked an eight-pitch at-bat, and then broke his bat with a soft dribbler to shortstop. But he reached first with an infield single, giving him his first hit in eight days when he had a two-hit game May 21 on the road against the Angels.
“It’s a hit,” Rooker said. “So it’s something.”
Rooker is one of a few A’s sluggers hitting well below their expectations. Tyler Soderstrom, who hit 25 homers in his first full season last year, is hitting .209 with six long balls. Lawrence Butler is no longer a mainstay in the lineup, slashing just .163/.258/.248 in 50 games. The A’s recent streak of 31 days in first place in their division ended this week, but had held up in that stretch largely despite three of their stalwarts hitting below replacement level.
“I think it’s a lot about belief,” Butler said when asked keeping the big picture in mind during a prolonged slump. “It’s knowing that the guys in the lineup are really good players, and with enough time and enough work and enough patience that the results are going to be there, because they always have been.”
The offense will have to come around while the A’s pitching is similarly tattered. Ace Luis Severino exited Friday’s loss after a few warmup pitches before the second inning after allowing a four-run first. An A’s starter hasn’t earned a win in 13 days. And while none of Severino’s runs allowed were earned due to an error in the inning, A’s starters had a 5.73 ERA during that span.
The pitching splits between home and road have been stark. The A’s have a 5.45 ERA at Sutter Health Park and a 3.39 ERA on the road. The A’s have a plus-21 run differential in 31 road games compared to minus-52 in 31 games at home. Friday’s loss dropped the A’s to 10-16 at home this season, compared to 17-14 in away games.
“We’ve paid for mistakes more (at home) than what we’ve paid for mistakes on the road,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said. “That being said, we’ve got to play better defense at home. ... That’s a combination of what it takes to pitch better, it’s also to play better.”
Severino’s status uncertain
Severino came out of the game with right arm soreness after having his scheduled start on Tuesday pushed back to Friday after feeling discomfort during a side throwing session.
“Every time I threw a pitch, it was just getting worse,” Severino said.
The right-hander said he’ll undergo testing on Saturday and is fearful of a long-term absence. He said if he only had to miss one or two starts, “I’m happy with that.”
Severino fell to 2-6 with the loss and has similar splits to last season when he was a far more effective pitcher on the road. He came in allowing an .895 OPS to hitters at home and .681 OPS in seven road starts.
The A’s will try to snap their four-game losing streak on Saturday by sending J.T. Ginn (2-3, 3.19 ERA) to the mound against lefty Ryan Weathers (2-2, 3.14). Friday’s game had an announced attendance of 12,254, which the A’s said was their 10th sellout of the season after having just seven in all of 2025.
