Athletics ride offense to 11-7 victory over Yankees

A quality bounce-back win for the Green & Gold

The A’s won the second game of the series against the New York Yankees on Saturday afternoon, winning by a final of 11-7 on a hot and sunny day in Sacramento to even the series and set up a crucial Sunday matchup tomorrow to end the home stand.

A’s open early lead against Yankees

Going into today New York had won three straight games including last night’s drubbing against our A’s. The home team would prefer to open up a quick lead against Yankees starting pitcher Carlos Rodon, who entered today with an impressive 2.96 ERA and a dominant resume against the Athletics. After threatening in the first they managed to get the scoring started in the next inning when second baseman Luis Urias snuck his sixth home run of the year just inside the right field foul pole, a solo shot to give the team the early lead:

They weren’t done there. Back-to-back singles to open the bottom of the third were followed by a massive three-run blast from Brent Rooker, his 10th of the season:

That gave the A’s a 4-0 lead against New York but even that lead isn’t safe against a dangerous lineup like the Yankees possess.

Sears cruises

Making the start against the team that traded him to the Athletics back in 2023, left-hander JP Sears brought his impressive 2.93 ERA into today’s contest looking to tame the Yankees bats. The team’s most consistent starter managed to hold them down for five innings as he allowed just one solo home run to superhuman Aaron Judge in the fourth. At just 82 pitches manager Mark Kotsay decided not to send Sears out for the sixth, ending his day and going with Justin Sterner to begin the sixth.

–JP Sears: 5 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 82 pitches

Thats another quality start from the third-year left-hander and he now has a 2.80 ERA after eight starts. He’ll take that impressive mark into his next scheduled start against the San Francisco Giants in the latter half of next week.

Yankees comeback

Once Sears was out of the game the Yankee bats came to life. Right-hander Justin Sterner, who entered today’s contest having not surrendered a single run all season long, finally got tagged for some runs and when it rains it pours. New York scored five runs off the 28-year-old to take the lead and ruin Sears’ excellent outing. He’s been so reliable all season long so it’s hard to get mad about one appearance but this one could have cost the A’s dearly today. Grant Holman finished the frame for him and added on a scoreless inning of his own.

A’s answer back

Suddenly down late against the Yankees and facing the prospect of losing their second straight game to their AL East rivals the A’s bats rallied to pick up Sterner and get him off the hook. Into the New York bullpen after Rodon’s exit, the heart of the lineup answered the Athletics’ needs. Rooker walked to start the rally, Tyler Soderstrom doubled to put two runners in scoring position and Shea Langeliers blasted his eighth home run of the season to give the Athletics the lead again:

Back on top but with just a one-run lead the Athletics needed some insurance. An eighth-inning rally delivered just that for the team as Soderstrom and Langeliers both delivered RBI knocks to pad the Athletics’ lead:

Given a five-run lead flamethrowein closer Mason Miller entered the game for the save opportunity, his first chance since blowing his last chance. New York was able to tag him for a run but after being gifted a massive lead Miller nailed down the win, securing his 11th save of the season and knotting this critical series with the Yankees up at one apiece.

That was a quality win right there against last year’s AL representative in the World Series. The team’s 11-7 win this afternoon moves their record to 21-19. Sears was dominant against his former organization while the offense came up with a few big rallies to support their pitching. Justin Sterner had day to forget but he’s been nails for the squad all year and even after today’s meltdown still has a 2.33 ERA in 19 games this year.

The club will hope to ride this momentum into the finale tomorrow afternoon to wrap up the home stand. Right-hander Luis Severino will take the ball for the start against his former team. The Yankees have yet to announce their starter for tomorrow but indications are it’ll be right-hander Clarke Schmidt. We’ll just have to wait to find out.