OAKLAND – Throughout the 2024 season, teams from across Major League Baseball have paid respects to the Oakland Coliseum, the historic East Bay venue that will be left baseball-less after the A’s move to Sacramento in 2025, in different ways.
New York’s offering was accompanied by loud cracks and baseballs launched through the cold Bay Area breeze on Saturday night.
It was only fitting that the Yankees – a franchise known for big-time hitters on even larger contracts – treated the A’s fans to a vintage display of power by the Bronx Bombers’ highest-paid stars.
Aaron Judge, a 2010 Athletics draft pick, granted owner John Fisher’s infamous wish early and hit his 54th homer of the season well over the center field wall to pad New York’s lead against Fisher’s club.
Giancarlo Stanton also hit a three-run homer and Juan Soto scattered two hits in New York’s 10-0 victory over Oakland in front of 33,198 fans.
Meanwhile, the power that saw Oakland enter the night with 193 home runs, the seventh most in baseball, was nowhere to be found. The A’s mustered just five hits, with Shea Langeliers the only player with two.
Oakland’s record against the Yankees dropped to 135-147 in Alameda County.
In the fifth-to-last MLB game at the Coliseum ever, it was a former Yankee prospect who faced New York’s wrath.
The bombardment came mostly at the hands of 28-year-old lefthander JP Sears, who was at one time the crown jewel of Oakland’s prospect haul from the Yankees in exchange for then-ace Frankie Montas.
Sears went five innings with six earned runs and hits allowed as he dropped to 0-4 against New York and 11-12 on the season.
He entered the game averaging the third fewest strikeouts per nine innings (6.74), and his pitching-to-contact style did not serve him well against the Yankees future Hall of Fame-riddled lineup.
After winning the series opener 4-2 in 10 innings, the Yankees entered Saturday’s with the best record in the American League (90-64).
The Yankees’ fearsome top of the order produced immediate results in the first inning, with Gleyber Torres, Soto and the presumptive AL MVP Judge all getting on base, and the first two scoring after at-bats by Stanton and Jasson Dominguez.
Anthony Volpe pushed the lead to 3-0 in the second inning on a leadoff home run to left. Stanton doubled New York’s advantage in the third by pulling a no-doubt-about-it home run to left and driving in Soto and Judge.
The A’s bats were kept quiet by former Giants pitcher Carlos Rodón, who got his 16th victory of the season after he struck out five in six innings and allowed just four hits. Judge hit his home run in the seventh to lead off a four-run frame.
The A’s (67-88) will trot out Joey Estes (7-8, 4.78 ERA) to face Luis Gil (14-6, 3.14 ERA) in the series finale on Sunday.
