by Jerry Feitelberg

thegreedypinstrips.com photo credit file photo: The New York Yankees pitcher Ivan Nova who pitched at the Oakland Coliseum on Thursday night against the Oakland A’s

OAKLAND–The A’s not only lost the game Thursday night to the visiting New York Yankees 4-1, but they also lost their star right-fielder Josh Reddick for several weeks due to an injury.Reddick broke his thumb stealing second in the bottom of the seventh inning. Reddick appeared to have jammed his left hand sliding into the base. After the game, A’s manager Bob Melvin said  Reddick “caught his thumb on (Starlin) Castro’s foot. Reddick will see a hand specialist Friday to determine the extent of the injury.

Kendall Graveman started for Oakland, and he pitched relatively well. H went five and 2/3rds innings and allowed eight hits and two runs.The Yankees scored the first run in the third. With two out, Graveman walked Brett Gardner. Gardner scored on a double to left by the veteran Carlos Beltran. Beltran committed a base-running blunder when Brian McCann’ flyball to right was dropped by Reddick. Beltran did not run as he probably thought there was just one out in the inning. He stopped at third instead of coming home. Graveman retired the next hitter to end the inning. Reddick tied the game with a solo homer to right in the bottom of the fourth. The Yanks regained the lead in the sixth. Aaron Hicks doubled to drive in Dustin Ackley with the go-ahead score. The Yanks may have scored more, but they committed two more blunders on the basepaths. New York added two more runs in the ninth. With two out, Brett Gardner walked and scored on a blast into the right-field seats by Carlos Beltran. For Beltran, is was his 401st career home run.

Ivan Nova started for New York and won his third game of the year. Graveman took the loss, and his record is now 1-6. Bob Melvin said that Graveman “was a lot better today and we did not give him enough run support.” The A’s had to face the Yankees’ big three relievers in the game. Dellin Betances pitched the seventh, Andrew Miller the eighth and Aroldis Chapman closed out the ninth. The Yankees are now 18-22 while the A’s drop to 19-23.

Game two of the four-game series will be played Friday night at the Coliseum. Game time will be at 6:05 PM PT. The game will be followed by the first fireworks display of the season

Time of game was 2 hours and 39 minutes, and 17,456 were in the ballpark to watch the A’s go down to defeat.