New York Yankee Aaron Judge (left) is congratulated by Giancarlo Stanton (27) after hitting a top of the seventh home run against the Oakland A’s at the Oakland Coliseum on Sat Sep 21, 2024 (AP News photo)

By William Espy

The Oakland A’s hosted the New York Yankees for the second game of their three-game series on Saturday night. It’s going to be the last time that the Bronx Bombers play a series at the historic Coliseum, but it got off to a rough start for the A’s as they lost Friday’s game 4-2 in front of a crowd of 33,198.

Saturday night didn’t fare much better for them either, as they lost in dominant fashion as the Yankees drove in ten runs in a statement victory over the home team.

Things got off to an immediately rough for the A’s, as two singles to start the night by Gleber Torres and Juan Soto put starting pitcher JP Sears in a tough spot right out of the gate. Aaron Judge drew a walk on the next at-bat, loading the bases before the A’s had recorded a single out.

Giancarlo Stanton grounded into a double play, but Torres scored and Soto advanced to third. Jasson Dominguez singled to left field, driving in Soto before he stole second base. The next batter Jon Berti struck out, stopping the bleeding for the time being.

In the bottom of the first, the A’s got a couple of base runners but were unable to do much with it. Anthony Volpe hit a solo home run to start the second inning, extending the Yankees’ lead to 3-0 but that would be all of the offense the visitors could get going in the inning.

The bottom of the second was almost identical to the first for the A’s. The top of the third saw even more dominance from the Yankees’ offense, as singles by Soto and Judge set Stanton up to hit a three-run blast, doubling the Yankees’ lead and making it 6-0. After that, the Yankees would get a couple of more hits but they’d be stranded in scoring position.

Jacob Wilson got a lead-off single in the bottom of the third, advancing to third over the course of the inning but Oakland would be unable to capitalize as the next three batters would all be retired. Sears had his best inning of the night in the top of the fourth when New York had three batters up, and three down, but the offense still wasn’t helping them get back in the game in the bottom of the inning. Jon Berti would get the only hit for either side in the fifth inning with a single, otherwise it was fairly uneventful.

Brandon Bielak took over on the mound for Oakland to start the top of the sixth inning. He’d give up a single to Torres, but otherwise, the Yankees wouldn’t generate any offense. Shea Langliers doubled with two outs in the bottom of the sixth, but JJ Bleday flew out to end the inning and stranded Langliers in scoring position.

Oakland wouldn’t be as lucky in the top of the seventh though, as lead-off hitter Judge hit his 54th home run of the year to make it 7-0 in favor of the visitors. The next two batters, Stanton and Dominguez would both walk.

Stanton would eventually score on a fielder’s choice though. Eventually, Bielak would load the bases after Oswaldo Cabrera and Jose Trevino drew walks and then the pitcher’s night came to an end. Hogan Harris came into the game and immediately surrendered a single to Torres, who scored two runners, making it 10-0.

The A’s would go three-up, three- down in the bottom of the inning. At this point, both teams started making some defensive substitutions as it was clear that the Yankees were going to take the game.

Neither team would be able to produce any offense for the remainder of the game, and the Yankees would walk away with a 10-0 victory in a game where they absolutely demolished their opposition. The final game between the Yankees and A’s at Oakland Coliseum will take place on Sunday, as the A’s look to find a way to get a win in the series and avoid a sweep.