Jazz, Judge, Bellinger, and Stroman Lead Yankees to 12–5 Win Over A’s

New York—The Yankees dominate the A’s 12-5 to win the series. Marcus Stroman made his return from the IL and got the start, making his first start since April 11, facing off against former Yankee Luis Severino. 

"I tore my ACL and made it back in 5 months,” Stroman said when asked if he had any doubt about returning from the IL. “I don't do 'doubt.' I knew I'd be back at some point; it was just a matter of when."

Marcus Stroman got the starting nod for the Yankees and faced off against former Yankee Luis Severino for the A’s. 

Stroman worked an easy 1-2-3 top of the first inning on just 10 pitches in his return from the injured list. 

Cody Bellinger dunked in a bloop single to left field with one out in the bottom of the first inning. Belli then moved up to second base on a wild pitch; however, Aaron Judge struck out and Ben Rice grounded out to strand Belli. 

In the bottom half of the second inning, Jazz Chisholm Jr. wasted no time crushing the first pitch of the inning into the short porch in right field for his 13th home run of the season to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. 

In the top of the third inning, Stroman worked around a walk and a single with the help of a nice double play turned by Jazz at third to work out of trouble. 

Trent Grisham reached base on an E4 from A’s second baseman, Luis Urías, allowing Grisham to go to second. A couple of batters later, Judge worked a walk, a pitch, then hit Rice to load the bases for Jazz. Jazz came through with a bases-clearing triple to give the Yankees a 4-0 lead. Paul Goldschmidt followed that up with a walk, and Jazz then came across to score on a wild pitch to make it 5-0. 

"I feel like me. I feel like I'm back in my era when I was younger, going out there and just hitting." Jazz said.

With two outs in the bottom of the fourth inning, Belli just missed a home run off the top of the wall in right field but was able to leg out a double. The next batter, Judge, launched his 29th home run of the year to make it a 7-0 game. 

Stroman served up a solo home run to Willie MacIver to make it a 7-1 game in the top half of the fifth inning. 

Anthony Volpe led off the bottom of the fifth inning with a single down the first base line. A couple of batters later, Grusham worked a walk. The next batter, Belli, launched a three-run bomb, his 11th home run of the season, to make it a 10-1 game. 

JT Brubaker took over for Stroman on the mound in the top of the sixth inning. JT immediately walked a batter and served up a double to work into trouble. Nick Kurtz picked up a RBI infield single to make it a 10-2 game. JT then walked Tyler Soderstrom with the bases loaded to bring across another run to make it a 10-3 game. Jazz made an unbelievable diving play to save extra bases and a couple of runs, but another run did come across to score to make it a 10-4 game. Jonathan Loáisiga took over for JT with the bases loaded and one out and gave up a RBI groundout to Denzel Clarke to make it a 10-5 game. 

Marcus Stromans' final line: five innings pitched, three hits allowed, one earned run, two walks, four swings and misses, and one strikeout on 74 pitches. Stroman threw his sinker 49% of the time, the slurver 30%, the cutter 12%, the fastball 4%, the splitter 3%, and the slider 3% of the time. Stroman was great today. I’m happy to admit I was wrong about him today. I did not have much faith in him to give the Yankees a good start at all. 

"Just going deep to keep my team in it," Stroman said about what he was happy about in his first start back. "You know, I think length is always something that as the starters that we're trying to do to keep the bullpen safe. So, definitely going as deep as possible, having a low pitch count to kind of turn over to the bullpen." 

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Jazz had a weird check swing on a strikeout and immediately ran down into the tunnel, wincing in pain. 

Tim Hill replaced Loáisiga in the top of the seventh inning, and Jazz also stayed in the game following what looked like a bad injury.  Hill retired the A’s in order. 

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Grisham worked a walk. A couple of batters later, Judge crushed his second home run of the game and 30th bomb of the season to make it a 12-5 game. 

Luke Weaver was called upon to pitch the top of the ninth inning and retired the A’s in order to end this one 12-5 and give the Yankees the series win. 

Judge was asked postgame about the Yankees' recent struggles.

"Are we in first place?” Judge said. “That's what we're concerned about. Nothing can shake this team on the inside or get us off our game plan."

The Yankees will now head north of the border to take on the Blue Jays in Toronto. Carlos Rodon will get the start for the Yankees, and the Jays' pitcher is still TBD. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:07 p.m. ET on the YES Network. 

My thoughts on the game: great win all around. Really solid start from Stroman, I didn't have much faith in him, but he looked good for five innings of one-run baseball. Jazz had a great day with four RBIs, a triple, and a home run, and thankfully stayed in the game after an injury scare that reminded me a lot of Andrew Benintendi in 2022. Belli was also great with three hits and three RBIs, finishing a triple shy of the cycle. Judge also had a much-needed two-home run game to hopefully break out of his recent slump. Rice also looked great behind the plate, catching. The bullpen was also solid for the most part, other than JT. But Weaver, Hill, Hamilton, and Loáisiga all looked great. On to tomorrow as the Yankees start a big four-game series in Toronto against the Blue Jays. 

"We don't really push the panic button in here,” Judge said. “Maybe people on the outside do, that's their job, but we just gotta show up ready to work and ready to do our thing."