NEW YORK (AP) — Brent Rooker ended Clarke Schmidt's scoreless streak at 28 1/3 innings with a solo homer in the fourth inning, Nick Kurtz added a three-run drive in the sixth and the Athletics beat the New York Yankees 7-0 Saturday.
Former Yankee JP Sears (6-7) allowed two hits over 5 2/3 innings for the A's, who had lost five of six and entered a major league-worst 11-31 since May 13.
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New York Yankees pitcher Clarke Schmidt (36) walks off the field during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Athletics, Saturday, June 28, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
New York Yankees pitcher Clarke Schmidt (36) walks off the field during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Athletics, Saturday, June 28, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
New York Yankees' Aaron Judge (99) takes off his gloves after grounding into double play during the first inning of a baseball game against the Athletics, Saturday, June 28, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
The Athletics celebrate Nick Kurtz' (16) three run home run during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the New York Yankees, Saturday, June 28, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
Athletics' Brent Rooker (25) celebrates a home run during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the New York Yankees, Saturday, June 28, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
Jack Perkins, a 25-year-old right-hander who debuted last weekend, finished the three-hitter for his first big save and extended his scoreless streak to 6 1/3 innings. New York was shut out for the sixth time, two shy of its 2024 total.
Schmidt (4-4) had an extra day of rest after he threw a career-high 103 pitches over seven no-hit innings against Baltimore on June 21. He gave up four runs and four hits in six innings.
Rooker's fourth-inning homer on a hanging slider ended the longest scoreless streak by a Yankees starter since Don Larsen's 29 innings over 1957-58 and the longest within a season since Allie Reynolds' 30 in 1951, according to STATS.
Kurtz's homer, on a cutter, followed a pair of four-pitch walks and landed behind the right field short porch. Yankees pitchers walked five and four of those runners scored.
Yankees reliever Ian Hamilton stared at Jacob Wilson after an inning-ending comebacker in the seventh. Hamilton said he was frustrated with his own performance and told the rookie he should have run out of the batter's box. Wilson said “no hard feelings.”
Paul Goldschmidt's sixth-inning single ended an 0-for-20 slide. Aaron Judge twice flied to the warning track with men on.
Catcher Austin Wells picked up Max Muncy’s popped bunt in the eighth, rather than letting the ball roll foul, leading to a three-run inning that included Tyler Soderstrom's sacrifice fly and Austin Wynns' RBI single.
Kurtz has 12 homers this season, including 11 in the rookie's past 22 games.
Yankees RHP Marcus Stroman (0-1, 11.57), makes his first start since April 11 in Sunday's series finale after being sidelined by left knee inflammation. Former Yankee RHP Luis Severino (2-8, 4.83) starts for the A's.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
New York Yankees pitcher Clarke Schmidt (36) walks off the field during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Athletics, Saturday, June 28, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
New York Yankees pitcher Clarke Schmidt (36) walks off the field during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Athletics, Saturday, June 28, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
New York Yankees' Aaron Judge (99) takes off his gloves after grounding into double play during the first inning of a baseball game against the Athletics, Saturday, June 28, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
The Athletics celebrate Nick Kurtz' (16) three run home run during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the New York Yankees, Saturday, June 28, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
Athletics' Brent Rooker (25) celebrates a home run during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the New York Yankees, Saturday, June 28, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
RHO, Italy (AP) — No ice is colder and harder than speedskating ice. The precision it takes has meant that Olympic speedskaters have never competed for gold on a temporary indoor rink – until the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games.
In the pursuit of maximum glide and minimum friction, Olympic officials brought on ice master Mark Messer, a veteran of six previous Olympic speedskating tracks and the ice technician in charge of the Olympic Oval in Calgary, Canada — one of the fastest tracks in the world with over 300 records.
Messer has been putting that experience to work one thin layer of ice at a time since the end of October at the new Speed Skating Stadium, built inside adjacent trade fair halls in the city of Rho just north of Milan.
“It’s one of the biggest challenges I’ve had in icemaking,’’ Messer said during an interview less than two weeks into the process.
If Goldilocks were a speedskater, hockey ice would be medium hard, for fast puck movement and sharp turns. Figure skating ice would be softer, allowing push off for jumps and so the ice doesn’t shatter on landing. Curling ice is the softest and warmest of all, for controlled sliding.
For speedskating ice to be just right, it must be hard, cold and clean. And very, very smooth.
“The blades are so sharp, that if there is some dirt, the blade will lose the edge,’’ Messer said, and the skater will lose speed.
Speedskater Enrico Fabris, who won two Olympic golds in Turin in 2006, has traded in his skates to be deputy sports manager at the speedskating venue in Rho. For him, perfect ice means the conditions are the same for all skaters — and then if it's fast ice, so much the better.
"It's more of a pleasure to skate on this ice,'' he said.
Messer’s first Olympics were in Calgary in 1988 — the first time speedskating was held indoors. “That gave us some advantages because we didn’t have to worry about the weather, wind blowing or rain,’’ he said. Now he is upping the challenge by becoming the first ice master to build a temporary rink for the Olympics.
Before Messer arrived in Italy, workers spent weeks setting up insulation to level the floor and then a network of pipes and rubber tubes that carry glycol — an antifreeze — that is brought down to minus 7 or minus 8 degrees Celsius (17.6 to 19.4 degrees Fahrenheit) to make the ice.
Water is run through a purification system — but it can’t be too pure, or the ice that forms will be too brittle. Just the right amount of impurities “holds the ice together,’’ Messer said.
The first layers of water are applied slowly, with a spray nozzle; after the ice reaches a few centimeters it is painted white — a full day’s work — and the stripes are added to make lanes.
“The first one takes about 45 minutes. And then as soon as it freezes, we go back and do it again, and again and again. So we do it hundreds of times,’’ Messer said.
As the ice gets thicker, and is more stable, workers apply subsequent layers of water with hoses. Messer attaches his hose to hockey sticks for easier spreading.
What must absolutely be avoided is dirt, dust or frost — all of which can cause friction for the skaters, slowing them down. The goal is that when the skaters push “they can go as far as possible with the least amount of effort,’’ Messer said.
The Zamboni ice resurfacing machine plays a key role in keeping the track clean, cutting off a layer and spraying water to make a new surface.
One challenge is gauging how quickly the water from the resurfacing machine freezes in the temporary rink.
Another is getting the ice to the right thickness so that the Zamboni, weighing in at six tons, doesn’t shift the insulation, rubber tubing or ice itself.
“When you drive that out, if there’s anything moving it will move. We don’t want that,’’ Messer said.
The rink got its first big test on Nov. 29-30 during a Junior World Cup event. In a permanent rink, test events are usually held a year before the Olympics, leaving more time for adjustments. “We have a very small window to learn,’’ Messer acknowledged.
Dutch speedskater Kayo Vos, who won the men’s neo-senior 1,000 meters, said the ice was a little soft — but Messer didn’t seem too concerned.
“We went very modest to start, now we can start to change the temperatures and try to make it faster and still maintain it as a safe ice,’’ he said.
Fine-tuning the air temperature and humidity and ice temperature must be done methodically — taking into account that there will be 6,000 spectators in the venue for each event. The next real test will be on Jan. 31, when the Olympians take to the ice for their first training session.
“Eighty percent of the work is done but the hardest part is the last 20 percent, where we have to try to find the values and the way of running the equipment so all the skaters get the same conditions and all the skaters get the best conditions,’’ Messer said.
AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
Serpentines are set on the ice of the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Workers clean the ice surface during a peed skating Junior World Cup and Olympic test event, in Rho, near Milan, Italy, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
