WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — After his first taste of Major League Baseball in a steamy minor league park, Aaron Judge watched as a couple of mishits ended up on the warning track.
“It’s a good place to hit,” Judge declared Friday. “Look forward to tomorrow.”
He and much of the Yankees offense seemed to enjoy the perks and quirks of a capital city in which baseballs play more like bouncy balls.
The only problem: So did the A’s.
On an afternoon in which drifting outfielders were perplexed that the balls just kept traveling, the no-longer-Oakland club used three home runs and a strong finish to out-offense the Yankees 11-7 in front of another sellout at Sutter Health Park on Saturday.
The Yankees (22-17) wasted a multihomer game from Judge, a resounding go-ahead shot from Oswald Peraza and a spirited comeback from a four-run deficit.
They led after six innings before the bullpen allowed seven runs in the seventh and eighth.
After a five-run sixth that put the Yankees in front by two, the A’s took the lead for good against Fernando Cruz in the seventh.
In the frame, Brent Rooker singled and Tyler Soderstrom doubled, putting the tying runs on base.
Both scored when Shea Langeliers got under a Cruz splitter, sending center fielder Trent Grisham backpedaling until smacking into the wall for what became a three-run shot.
The Yankees threatened in the top of the eighth, putting the tying run on second and go-ahead run on first with one out. But the A’s turned to fireballing closer Mason Miller, who struck out Ben Rice and Paul Goldschmidt to escape.
The A’s avoided a dramatic finish by running away from the Yankees in the bottom of the inning, scoring four runs off a wild Ian Hamilton and a hard-hit Tyler Matzek.
- CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS
Hamilton loaded the bases before handing off to Matzek, who allowed a two-run single to Soderstrom and a two-run double to Langeliers, who smacked one over the glove of a Grisham who did not get a good jump.
Ruined by the end was the Yankees comeback launched in the middle innings.
Down 4-0 after four innings because of a pair of home runs surrendered by Carlos Rodón, the Yankees scored once in the fourth and five times in the sixth, fully taking advantage of the elements.
In the fourth, Judge stepped to the plate and heard an “Overrated!” chant from one fan (whose voice could clearly be heard, one of the oddities of playing a game in front of 12,113 people).
On the first pitch he saw from former teammate JP Sears, Judge got enough of a Sears four-seamer for a homer that just cleared the wall in right-center.
Two innings later, Judge smacked his second of the day, this one off reliever Justin Sterner, who had not allowed a run in his first 18 appearances this season before the Yankees teed off on the righty.
Judge’s no-doubter bounced halfway up the batter’s eye in straightaway center for his majors-best 14th homer of the season.
The frame was just beginning. A Cody Bellinger walk and Anthony Volpe double began a threat that was cashed in by sacrifice flies from Austin Wells and pinch-hitting Oswaldo Cabrera.
In a tie game with Jasson Domínguez on first, Peraza got hold of a 1-2, middle-of-the-plate sweeper and pulled it just fair down the left-field line for a two-run shot that put the Yankees ahead to stay.
With DJ LeMahieu due back as soon as Monday in Seattle, Peraza’s spot on the roster has seemed in question. If this home run — just his second of the year — meant a bit more to him, it showed: He looked toward the dugout, slammed his bat to the dirt and pumped his first on the way to first base.
Go beyond the box score with the Bombers
Sign up for Inside the Yankees by Greg Joyce, exclusively on Sports+.
Thank you
As it would turn out, that swing would be the final positive moment of the day for the Yankees.
