Yankees extend winning streak to five with 8-2 victory in Sacramento

The Yankees took down the A’s 8-2 to extend their winning streak to five in a row. Carlos Rodon got the starting nod for the Yankees and faced off against former Yankee Luis Severino. 

Ben Rice reached base with one out in the top of the first inning, thanks to an E3, then moved up to second on a balk. Aaron Judge drove in Rice with an RBI single up the middle in a 3-0 count to give the Yankees a lead they would not relinquish. Paul Goldschmidt crushed a three-run homer to make it a 4-0 game. 

Nick Kurtz got one run back in the bottom half of the inning with a solo shot to left center to make it a 4-1 game. 

Severino was forced to leave the game with an injury in the top of the second inning. José Caballero lined a one-out double to left against the A’s new pitcher, José Suarez. Trent Grisham then lined a single to center, putting runners at the corners. Rice followed with an RBI base knock, making it a 5-1 ballgame. 

In the top of the third inning, Ryan McMahon crushed a home run to right-center to extend the Yankees' lead to 6-1. 

With one out in the top of the fourth inning, Grisham singled, Rice followed with a double to put two runners in scoring position for Judge. Judge drove in Grisham with an RBI groundout. 

Rodon worked a nice and easy 1-2-3 bottom of the fifth inning and did the same in the sixth inning to finish off his best start of the season. 

Rice crushed a solo shot to lead off the seventh inning, his 17th home run of the season, to extend the Yankees' lead to 8-1. 

In the bottom of the inning, Brent Headrick replaced Rodon on the mound and allowed a pair of singles and walked a batter to load the bases with one out. Fernando Cruz took over for Headrick and induced a 1-2-3 inning-ending double play. 

Final line for Rodon: Six innings pitched, four hits allowed, one earned run, walking two, and striking out three on 93 pitches. He threw his fastball over half the time at 53%, the slider 25%, the sinker 12%, and the changeup 11%. Rodon topped out at 95.6 mph and averaged 93.4 on his heater. He had just three swings and misses tonight. 

Paul Blackburn came in relief for Cruz in the eighth inning and retired the A’s in order on just nine pitches. Blackburn came back out for the bottom of the ninth inning and allowed an RBI single to Zack Gelof to make it a six-run ballgame, which ended up being the final score. 

The Yankees will look to win the series tomorrow with Ryan Weathers on the mound, facing off against J.T. Ginn. First pitch is scheduled for 10:05 p.m. ET on the YES Network. 

My thoughts on the game: Great win tonight, all around. Rodon was solid; I would have liked to see some more swing and miss stuff from him, but I’m not going to complain about six innings of one-run baseball. Headrick didn't have his best stuff tonight, but Cruz picked him up. Blackburn did his job as the mop-up guy and picked up the final six outs. Rice had a great night with three hits, two RBIs, and finished a triple shy of the cycle. Grisham had a couple of hits to help set the tone at the top of the lineup. Goldy and McMahon each hit their sixth home run of the year. Caballero had a multi-hit game, and Judge had a couple of RBIs and a hit. Hopefully, Severino is okay; I always liked him when he was on the Yankees. Sorry for the shorter recap and no quotes tonight, I have been covering college baseball all day, and I want to go to sleep.