Yankees’ beleaguered bullpen wastes Aaron Judge’s heroics

OAKLAND, Calif. — Aaron Judge and Chris Carter had pulled the Yankees out of the ditch Luis Severino drove them into e♌arly against the A’s.

Clinging to a one-run lead in a game they tr𝐆ailed by four in the second inning, the Yankees found themselves in a foreign land Friday night because of circumstances that were out of manager Joe Girardi’s control.

With Dellin Betances unavailable because of a high pitch count on Thursday and Tyler Clippard needed to close even though he worked in three of the previous four games, Girardi turned to Jon𝓡athan Holder to protect a skinny ꦆone-run lead in the eighth inning.

For one batter thᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚe right-hander was effective, but after that, it turned into a gut-wrenching, 7-6, loss in front of 30,184 at the Coliseum had Holder’s name stamped across the top 𝕴of it.

“It’s tough to swallow, the team got us back in the game,’’ said Holder, who gave up a bases-loaded, two-run single to Matt Chapman, who played in his second big league game, that sent 𝔍the Yankees to a season-high fourt༒h straight loss. “That pitch was supposed to be in the dirt. I didn’t execute it and he took advantage of it.’’

The loss coupled with the Red Sox winning reduced the 38-27 Yankees lead in th🅺e AL East to one game. It also guarantee♛d the Yankees will exit a seven-game West Coast road trip with a losing record as they are 1-4 against the Angels and lowly A’s.

It was the💞 second straight night the Yankees came back from an early deficit but lost.

Trailing, 4-0, after two innings because Severino’s command wasn’t crisp, Judge hit a three-run, opposite-field homer to right off ꧒A’s lefty Sean Manaea in the third and Carter opened the sixth with his third career homer off Manaea that put the Yankees ahead, 5-4.

Starlin Castro’s RBI s🍌ingle scored Judge who sent a booming triple off the center-field wall with one o🐓ut in the seventh.

Chasen Shreve gave one back in the seventh and then it was on🃏to Holder. After the disastrous eighth, the Yankees had a final shot at Santiago Casilla, who they dented Thursday night in the ninth to send the game into extra innings.

This time the right-hander faced four Yankees and fanned three of them. Smartly, he pitched around Judge, who drew a one-out walk but never strayed from fi🦄rst base.

Judge was asked if the💛re was satisfaction homering in front of family and friends from his hometown of Linden on hand.

“You always want to come out with a win, that’s the most important thing,’’ said Judge, who went 2-for-3 and w🌳alked twiꦐce.

As for Severino — who banged his right knee against a locker beforeꦚ the game but said that didn’t bother him — he also tripped and slipped on the mound during the four-runꦏ second. The Yankees overcame that on the scoreboard, but not in the pitch-count race as Severino was at 54 after two frames.

Severino rebounded to provide four shutout innings to give the Yankees a chance thatꦡ they delivered on until the A’s got a hold of Holder.

“That’s part of the game. I am really pleasedꦏ with the way we keep fighting back,’’ Gir👍ardi said. “Our bullpen is in a little bit of disarray but we will get it back.’’

Closer Aroldis Chapman will be activated fr𝓡om the disabled list Sunday and that pushes Betances to the eighth inning. Clippard, who hasn’t been sharp lately, slides into the seventh and Adam Warren’s DL stint isn’t expected to be a long one.

All of that makes the Yankees a better team but does nothing to wash awa🍨y the stench of the previous two games.