By Kahlil Najar

OAKLAND – Sonny Gray (6-3) gave up three runs on 49 pitches in the first two innings and the A’s lost to the New York Yankees 7-0. Jed Lowrie and Derek Norris were able to pressure Phelps and get a double and single respectively however those were the only offensive highlights of the game for the A’s. Gray was able to settle down in the later innings and ended up going six innings and striking out 7 batters in his first ever outing against the Yankees.

On his slow start, Gray said,”They were aggressive and once we were able to start making pitches down in the zone I got them out. It was just a little too late.”

“That’s been his problem the last few times, whether it’s ball/strike ratios (or) giving up some hits like he did tonight. Good news is that he settled in pretty well. He was able to give us six innings and threw the ball well, so that was good to see,” said head coach Bob Melvin on Gray. In his last three starts Gray is 1-1 with an ERA of 6.

In addition the poor start from Gray, the A’s have been struggling at bat lately – especially John Jaso, Josh Donaldson and Derek Norris. Jaso has a 0-for-17 streak, Donaldson is 0-for-27 and Moss is a little better but is still 1-for-17.

“Sometimes it goes that way. You get hits in bunches and everybody is hot and other times you cool off as a club. You’ve just got to keep grinding. We’ve been in a bit of a funk for about a week or so,” echoed Melvin on the slump of his team. The A’s are now 3-5 over their last 8 games. However overall they are 40-26 which is good for the second best record in the league.

All of the Yankees 12 hits were singles. Three of those in the first inning led to a 2-0 lead after one. The Yankees 1-2-3 hitters started off the game with a single each and Brett Gardner ran over home plate and gave the Yankees a 1-0 lead. Mark Teixeira hit a deep sacrifice fly to Coco Crisp and scored Derek Jeter who was on third to make it a 2-0 game. In the second after a Brian Roberts single and a Kelly Johnson walk, Brett Gardner hit a single to left field that scored Roberts from second and bring the lead to three.

The A’s weren’t able to figure out Yankees starting pitcher David Phelps as he held them hitless until the fifth inning when Derek Norris smacked a single to left field. On the night, Oakland weren’t able to get a base runner past second base.

The Yankees secured the win in the eighth inning when they were able to beat up A’s reliever Jeff Francis for five hits and four runs.

Prior to tonight, the A’s had beaten the Yankees seven straight times at the Coliseum.

Hiroki Kuroda and Scott Kazmir head to the mound tomorrow when both teams face off again at 7:05 PM.