Yankees blast four homers in win over hapless Athletics
They still don’t look like the Yankees, but for one night they hit like the Bronx Bombers.
A lineup missing former MVPs Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Josh Donaldson in the middle still slugged four home runs Monday as the Yankees capitalized on a get-well game with a 7-2 victory against the Oakland Athletics in front of 33,011 at Yankee Stadium.
“That’s really nice,” manager Aaron Boone said. “I thought we had a pretty good approach today. To get a couple big swings was good and definitely needs to be part of our game.”
If facing the MLB-worst Athletics wasn’t gift enough for the last-place Yankees after six losses in the past nine games, the home ballpark provided another favor in the fifth inning of a scoreless game by rewarding Oswaldo Cabrera for a 339-foot arcing fly ball.
It came off the bat at 89 mph and gently dropped in the third row of seats just inside the foul pole for a two-run home run that would’ve been out of only three other MLB ballparks.
“Absolutely I didn’t know that ball was gone,” Cabrera said of his reaction to contact. “It was not that hard, but I’m glad that ball’s gone.”
The Athletics (8-28) answered with two runs in the top of the sixth before the Yankees responded with Gleyber Torres’ tie-breaking solo shot and DJ LeMahieu tacked on a two-run insurance blast.
The suddenly popping Yankees (19-17) saved the most surprising for last: Aaron Hicks’ first home run of the season — for two more runs — in the seventh.
“To get on the board feels good,” Hicks said. “I’m just trying to be a little more patient and trying not to force things and let things happen. Stay within the strike zone and when I get a good pitch to hit, hit it hard.”
The switch-hitting Hicks started for the fourth time in a week — all against left-handed starting pitchers — but got a rare at-bat against a righty and cracked a 393-footer into the right-field stands.
The benched former starter was booed after a fly out earlier in the game but cheered as the dugout erupted around him in celebration of his homer.
“We’re talking about a guy that hasn’t run from any of this [adversity],” Boone said. “He has been working his tail off behind the scenes, whether it’s extra hitting or extra work. He’s trying to make it happen. None of this, I’m sure, has been easy, but he’s stood there and faced it every day. Credit to him for continuing to grind.”
Nestor Cortes worked in and out of trouble over five scoreless innings before two of his runners scored in the sixth.
Ian Hamilton was the unsung star, preserving a 5-2 lead by escaping unharmed from a two-on no-out jam created by Ron Marinaccio in the seventh.
“I couldn’t put guys away and left a lot of pitches over the plate,” Cortes said. “It’s pretty good when we score seven runs in a game and the bullpen is able to hold it there.”
Athletics starter JP Sears, who was traded by the Yankees last August, limited his former team to one hit through four innings.
Harrison Bader, who has injected a much-needed spark since coming off the injured list on May 2, tripled into the left-center field gap leading off the bottom of the fifth.
Nerves set in around Yankee Stadium, however, looking at the light bats in the bottom-half of the injury-decimated lineup — and Isiah Kiner-Falefa promptly added to fears of a wasted threat by lining out.
That’s when it started raining home runs — like a welcome-back banner for Judge, who is expected to rejoin Tuesday’s lineup after a hip strain.
“We’re the Bronx Bombers,” Hicks said. “Kind of what we are known for is to hit home runs and score a lot of runs that way.”
