NEW YORK (AP) - A day after hanging out at Sonny Gray’s house and catching up with his buddy, Kendall Graveman faced him at Yankee Stadium.
Khris Davis, Matt Chapman, Jed Lowrie and Matt Joyce all homered and the Oakland Athletics beat the Yankees 10-5 Friday night, leaving New York with back to back losses for the first time in more than a month.
The A’s had lost three in a row before tagging Gray, their former ace. Oakland has won five straight overall against the Yankees.
Recalled from the minors to make the start, Graveman (1-5) worked quickly and efficiently, needing just 43 pitches to get through the first four innings.
“It was kind of a unique feeling to step on the same rubber as him in the same game,” Graveman said.
The Athletics’ opening day starter, Graveman was optioned to Triple-A after going 0-5 with an 8.89 ERA. He allowed four runs, only one of them earned, on three hits and two walks over six innings, striking out four.
Marcus Semien drove in four runs for the A’s, three on a double in the ninth inning.
Davis led off the second inning with his 10th home run, driving a fastball into the right-field bleachers. After Matt Olson singled, Chapman hit an 0-2 pitch 429 feet into the loading dock in center for a 3-0 lead.
Gray (2-3) was acquired from Oakland just before last year’s trade deadline for outfielder Dustin Fowler and two minor leaguers. Drafted 18th overall in 2011, Gray was 44-36 with a 3.42 ERA over parts of five seasons with the A’s.
“I felt good, I just couldn’t put it together,” Gray said.
Making his first start in the majors, Fowler lined a single to right in his second at-bat, notching his first big league hit against the player he was traded for. Once a rising star in the Yankees’ system, Fowler suffered a major knee injury while trying to make a catch last June in his debut and was dealt to Oakland a month later.
“I had a long journey ahead of me from last year to now but I was happy to actually get my hit here,” Fowler said.
Gray allowed five runs on nine hits over five innings, walking three.
“He’s going to get it turned around,” Graveman said about his pal. “You just know a caliber guy like that, with the makeup that he has, is going to come out of it.”
Aaron Judge hit his 10th homer and rookie Gleyber Torres hit his third for the Yankees.
“We always feel like we’re in every game,” Judge said. “We just weren’t able to string a lot of hits together.”
Blake Treinen got four outs for his sixth save in eight chances.
Lowrie lined a solo shot just inside the right-field foul pole in the sixth off reliever David Hale. Joyce connected against Hale in the eighth.
The Yankees had won eight in a row before losing to Boston on Thursday night. The loss to the A’s gave New York its first two-game skid since April 10.
TOUGHING IT OUT
Graveman was struck on the shin by Didi Gregorius’ hard-hit grounder with two outs in the first. Chapman charged in from third base, retrieved the ball and fired across the diamond.
“It ended up being like 104 (mph) off the bat, so I’m glad we made the out,” Graveman said. “I had to go in and get like seven or eight minutes of time to try to get it back and put a compression sleeve over it and try to not let the swelling come in.”
CONSISTENT POWER
Davis joined Mike Trout, Manny Machado and Bryce Harper as the only players to hit at least 10 homers in each season since 2013.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Athletics: RHP Trevor Cahill (right elbow impingement) felt good after throwing on Friday, per manager Bob Melvin. Cahill is scheduled to throw another bullpen session soon and could return on Wednesday when eligible. … OF Stephen Piscotty was placed on the bereavement list. His mother, Gretchen, died Sunday from Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Yankees: RHP Tommy Kahnle (right shoulder tendinitis) may rejoin the club toward the back end of their upcoming road trip. … 1B Greg Bird (right ankle surgery) and OF Billy McKinney (sprained left shoulder) will play a couple more days with High-A Tampa and will likely continue their rehab assignments with Double-A Trenton. Bird played seven innings at first base Friday, going 1 for 2 with an RBI and two walks. … 3B Brandon Drury (severe migraines) continues to receive treatment while playing for Trenton and is feeling a lot better, according to manager Aaron Boone. The team has not decided when Drury will return.
UP NEXT
Athletics: RHP Andrew Triggs (3-1, 4.41 ERA) takes the hill Saturday afternoon. He held Baltimore to one run over seven innings his last time out, tying a career high with nine strikeouts.
Yankees: RHP Domingo German (0-1, 2.66 ERA) will make his second major league start after blanking Cleveland for six effective frames in a no-decision.
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