The Athletics as an organization have gotten themselves in a weird situation where they, as a major league team, are playing games in a minor league ballpark. The team themselves are a perfectly solid major league team, fighting atop an iffy AL West at this point of the season, with young talent that could make them very dangerous in the coming years.
That being said, Friday night’s series opener in Sacramento, one team definitely at a higher level, and it wasn’t the A’s.
Led by home runs from Paul
Goldschmidt, Ryan McMahon, and Ben Rice, the Yankees’ offense had no issues against Athletics’ pitching, putting up eight runs on 11 hits. Meanwhile on the mound, starting pitcher Carlos Rodón had arguably his best start of the season so far. He went six innings, allowing just one run on four hits and two walks, striking out three. From the first inning on, there wasn’t much drama in the game, as the Yankees came away with an 8-2 win.
While former Yankee and current Athletic Luis Severino retired Trent Grisham to open the game, his former team then got off to a quick start after that. The Yankees got a bit of fortune as A’s first baseman Nick Kurtz threw wide of a covering Severino after a Ben Rice grounder, which was then followed by a Severino balk. Aaron Judge then poked through a single to get the scoring started. Following another single from Clay Bellinger, Paul Goldschmidt then kept his good run going, homering to left to put up a crooked number.
The Athletics did get one of those runs back in the bottom half of the inning. Nick Kurtz hit a home run of his own in the first, getting his team on the board.
During his warmup pitches prior to the second inning, Severino appeared to tweak something, leading to his exit before the frame even began. Hopefully, it’s nothing too serious, as lot of us still have a soft sport for Sevy.
The Yankees’ offense continued to add on to their lead after Severino’s departure. In the second, Rice hit an RBI single that scored José Caballero, who was on after a double. In the third, Ryan McMahon hit a homer in his second consecutive game, also reaching the #150 mark for his career. Then in the fourth, Aaron Judge grounded out with two runners on, but it was a weak and slow enough grounder to allow Grisham to score from third.
Rodón would end up getting through six innings before making way for the bullpen. He ended his day on a very strong note, retiring the last seven batters he faced.
In the top of the seventh, Rice picked up his second RBI of the day with a homer to center-ish field. It broke a seven-game home run-less streak, which had been the longest of his season to this point.
Replacing Rodón was Brent Headrick, who came in for his daily appearance. This time around, he got one quick out, but then loaded the bases, leading to Aaron Boone going back to the bullpen. Fernando Cruz came in for him and induced a 1-2-3 double play to get out of the jam.
Paul Blackburn then got the eighth and worked a quick inning, despite having to hit the deck to avoid taking a comebacker to the face. Blackburn returned for the ninth and got in some early trouble when the first two Athletics’ batters reached base. One of those runs did come around to score, but Blackburn bounced back after that to finish the proceedings.
The Yankees and A’s will continue their set tomorrow night, with a game starting at 10:05 pm ET. Ryan Weathers and J.T. Ginn are expected to be the starting pitchers in that one.
