Despite win, Yankees are a fundamental mess

1:14 AM ET

OAKLAND — The Yankees ran themselves out of three runs and into two outs against the Oakland Athletics Thursday night. The manager pulled a starting pitcher who had allowed just one run and four hits over six innings, and needed just 62 pitches to get there. The offense could manage just two runs off starter Kendall Graveman, who came in with an ERA of nearly six runs per game.

Somehow, they won, 4-1, because the Athletics are at least as bad as they are.

But once again, the Yankees made some alarming, even embarrassing, mistakes on the basepaths that against a better opponent almost certainly would have cost them the game. And in some instances, even get the manager fired. All season long, the Yankees have displayed shoddy play in the field and knuckleheaded baserunning to go along with their often anemic offense.

Carlos Beltran’s two-run homer in the top of the ninth made up for an earlier baserunning blunder that cost the Yankees a run. AP Photo/Ben Margot

The first gaffe came in the third inning when Carlos Beltran, who had just knocked in the Yankees’ first run with a two-out double, lost track of the outs and held up halfway between second and third on Brian McCann’s liner to right. …

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