Aaron Judge collects 4 hits as Yankees beat A's 12-2
Aaron Judge had four hits to get his average back above .400 and Ben Rice hit a grand slam to lead the New York Yankees to a 12-2 victory over the Athletics on Sunday in West Sacramento.
Judge hit a two-run single in a five-run second inning against former teammate Luis Severino (1-4) and added hits in his final three at-bats to raise his average on the season to .409 — the fourth highest ever for a player with at least 14 homers in the first 40 games of a season.
The Yankees broke the game open in the fifth inning when Rice hit his first career grand slam after Mitch Spence had relieved an ineffective Severino.
The former Yankees starter struggled in his first career start against his former team, matching a career worst with eight earned runs allowed in four-plus innings.
Ryan Yarbrough (1-0) allowed two runs in five innings in his second start of the season to get the win.
JJ Bleday homered for the A's, who fell to 8-13 at home this season.
Key moment
The Yankees took control of the game in the second inning with an RBI single by Anthony Volpe, a bases-loaded walk by Oswaldo Cabrera and a run-scoring groundout by Jorbit Vivas. Judge then delivered the big hit with a line single that drove in two runs, giving him 39 RBIs this season.
Key stat
Paul Goldschmidt had three doubles and has now hit safely in all 19 road games he has played this season. The only other Yankees to do that are Derek Jeter with 23 straight to open the 2007 season and Jack Lelivelt with 21 in 1912.
Up next
The Yankees open a three-game series in Seattle on Monday night with RHP Clarke Schmidt (0-1, 4.79) set to start. The A's start a three-game series in Los Angeles against the Dodgers on Tuesday night with LHP Jeffrey Springs (4-3, 4.81) set to start the opener.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Washington Post
21 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Mass in the past: Josh Hines-Allen and his Jaguars teammates slim down in hopes of turning up
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Josh Hines-Allen tipped the scales like never before in 2024. The seventh-year pro beefed up to 285 pounds at the behest of first-year (now former) Jacksonville Jaguars defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen, whose 'mass kicks ass' motto was a mainstay during the offseason and in training camp. It was catchy — and ultimately consequential.
Washington Post
21 minutes ago
- Washington Post
US Open '25: DeChambeau's sand save an all-time memory at golf's most punishing major
It only feels right that the reigning titleholder at the golf championship that, at least in theory, anyone can win is the player who leans into the role of the sport's most relatable everyman, Bryson DeChambeau. And it only feels right that at the U.S. Open — a tournament built to humble and punish the best in the game as much as celebrate them — DeChambeau earned his title by hitting a shot that virtually no man can hit. A plaque now sits outside the bunker on the 18th hole at Pinehurst No. 2, enshrining the spot where DeChambeau placed his name in the history books with what he called 'the shot of my life' — a 55-yard blast from the sand to 4 feet with the trophy hanging in the balance on Sunday at last year's Open. Defense of the title begins Thursday at Oakmont, getting ready to host its record 10th U.S. Open and a course with a longtime reputation for being as difficult as they come. All of which seems to suit the 31-year-old pro golfer/social media star just fine. His first U.S. Open title came in 2020 at Winged Foot, the course best known for producing the 1974 'Massacre at Winged Foot' along with Phil Mickelson's meltdown in the trees and trash cans more than 30 years later. Then, last year, that bunker at Pinehurst. What would golf's everyman say to his millions of YouTube followers who someday might encounter their own version of the 50-yard bunker shot, widely recognized as one of the most difficult in the game, even under normal circumstances? 'The best piece of advice I give them is, just practice in weird, unique situations for maybe an hour a week, 20 minutes, whatever,' DeChambeau said. 'But try to be different and don't just hit the same stock shot every time.' All the major championships have their own personalities. The Masters produces roars through the pines during back-nine charges on Sunday. The British Open is a brittle links-style test where players have to think differently about getting from Point A to Point B. America's golf championship has a reputation for forcing the best players to suffer like the rest of us. As a result, the list of 'greatest shots of all time' at the U.S. Open is a short one: — Ben Hogan's 1-iron on the 72nd hole that helped force a playoff at Merion in 1950. — Arnold Palmer's lash with driver to the first green at Cherry Hills in 1960. — Jack Nicklaus' 1-iron that hit the flagstick on No. 17 at Pebble Beach in 1972. — Tom Watson's chip from the rough on the same hole 10 years later to beat Nicklaus. — Tiger Woods' 12-foot putt at Torrey Pines in 2008 to force a playoff he eventually won over Rocco Mediate. And now, there is DeChambeau's bunker shot. 'When he took this big swing, the amount of confidence that you have to have to hit it that close to the golf ball and not accidentally catch too much ball and send it on top of the clubhouse, it's a very fine line,' said NBC golf analyst Smylie Kaufman, whose biggest brush with pressure came when he played in the final group Sunday at the 2016 Masters. 'They work every single day, every week at these facets of the game in hopes they will have an opportunity to try it,' said Notah Begay, also of NBC. 'I think one of the most overlooked things about professional golf is all the calculation that happens on the fly in evaluating certain shots, which way the grass is lying, where the ball's going to land, and on top of all the normal things.' Maybe the biggest irony is what the U.S. Open officially sells itself as, versus what always ends up happening. More than 10,000 players signed up to qualify for the U.S. Open which is, officially, open to any professional, or amateur with a handicap of 0.4 or lower. There will be good stories to tell among those who went through qualifying to make the 156-man field : a 17-year-old high schooler from Georgia, a dentist in Indiana who used to caddie at Oakmont. The cold facts: The last man to run the gauntlet of local and sectional qualifying to win the title was Orville Moody in 1969. (Lucas Glover went through sectional qualifying only when he won in 2009.) By the time the sun starts going down on Sunday, the tournament almost certainly will come down to a handful of players who virtually all golf fans have heard of. Though Scottie Scheffler is playing the best right now and Rory McIlroy recently won the Masters to complete the career Grand Slam, it's plausible to think that DeChambeau captures the attention of more of those fans than anyone. He recently surpassed 2 million subscribers on his YouTube channel. He is making golf feel like everyman's sport, posting videos in which he makes a hole-in-one with a wedge shot over his house, plays with off-the-rack clubs to see how they stack up and tries to beat a scratch golfer while playing left-handed. All of it sounds nutty, but it all goes back to that piece of advice he offered when asked how to replicate the improbable under impossible circumstances — i.e., a 50-yard bunker shot with the U.S. Open on the line. 'Once you get a stock shot down and you're comfortable with it, go have some fun,' DeChambeau said. 'Do a chipping contest with your amateur friends and throw it in the bunker from 50 yards, or throw it in a bush and see if you can get out. Stuff to that extent has suited my game very well.' ___ AP Sports Writer Ben Nuckols contributed to this report. ___ AP golf:
Associated Press
33 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Brothers bring boxing back to Fenway after 70 years and hope to revitalize the sport in Boston
For the first time in nearly 70 years, boxing is returning to Boston's famed Fenway Park. The 11-fight card is the culmination of years of effort by twin brothers and longtime public schoolteachers who grew up in Watertown and want to revitalize boxing in the city that was home to some of the greatest athletes in the sport's history. It's also symbolic of a shift back to the roots of the oldest ballpark in Major League Baseball, to when it wasn't just used for Red Sox games but for other sports and political events. 'Most people's experience there is solely related to baseball,' said Richard Johnson, Fenway expert and curator at The Sports Museum in Boston. 'But the fact is that this year, you can see an event that'll be very similar to what your grandparents saw.' Promoters Mark and Matt Nolan want 'Fight Night at Fenway,' scheduled for Saturday, to be both a time capsule and time machine, taking spectators back to boxing's glory days and what the sport can be for the city in the future. The Nolans got their license to organize fights last year with the goal of bringing boxing back to Boston. After Fenway, 'That's mission accomplished,' Matt Nolan said. 'It's not just like our dream, it's everybody's dream — every boxer on planet Earth,' he said. 'Just the idea that some kid can fight his way to Fenway Park. It's like hitting the lottery. You can't you can't beat it. There's nothing comparable.' A rich history Boston has played a long and impressive role in American boxing history and the development of the sport itself, said Johnson, author of 'Field of Our Fathers, An Illustrated History of Fenway Park.' The city was home to 'Boston's Strong Boy,' John L. Sullivan, born in 1858 to Irish immigrant parents and widely considered America's first sports superstar. The first heavyweight champion of the world, he was as famous as Muhammad Ali was in his time. Sam Langford, a Black Canadian-born boxer, moved to Boston as a teenager but was blocked from competing in the world championships by racist policies and is considered one of the greatest non-champions in boxing. Other boxing stars with Boston connections include Marvin Hagler and Rocky Marciano of nearby Brockton. 'The Boston Bomber' Tony DeMarco, whose statue raises his fists at passersby in Boston's North End, was the last fighter to win in the ring at Fenway in 1956. For a time after it was built, Fenway Park was the only outdoor venue with a significant seating capacity in Boston, making it a destination for all kinds of events, including boxing starting in 1920. After new owners took over in 2002, the park became a venue for concerts and sporting events like hockey, snowboarding, Irish football and curling. 'Back in the day, it was sort of the Swiss Army knife of sports facilities in Boston. And it's returned to that — a little bit of everything. So, returning boxing to the park is just a nod to the past,' Johnson said. Other venues can feel 'more corporate and sterile,' but Fenway is living history, said Johnson, who calls it the 'largest open-air museum in New England.' A different pitch Mark Nolan said it's not for lack of trying that no one has hosted a boxing fight at Fenway in almost 70 years. But many promoters couldn't make a pitch that landed with ballpark management. The Nolans, who teach full time and own a boxing gym in Waltham where people can train regardless of their ability to pay, were different. After success hosting events at other venues, Mark Nolan said Fenway Sports Group connected to their 'everyman' appeal and decided to give them a shot. The brothers fell in love with boxing while accompanying their father, a boat captain, to the gym as kids. When they expanded from coaching amateur boxers to professionals five years ago, they were dismayed by what they found: shows full of uneven fights set up to make the promoters as much money as possible, with established amateurs fighting people who 'have no right putting gloves on in any capacity whatsoever' in venues like high school gymnasiums. Fighters weren't being paid fairly and contracts weren't transparent. They came up with a simple business plan: pick good venues, pay fighters well and only host matches in Boston proper. They said a lot of promoters sell fighters, but they're focused on selling fights fans want to see. 'They're making sure that every fight is well-matched,' said Thomas 'The Kid' O'Toole, a fighter from rural Galway, Ireland, who has lived in Boston for the past two years, 'Nobody wants to see someone go in and just knock their opponent out right away and beat them up for four, six, eight rounds. They want to see a competitive fight.' O'Toole went professional in 2021 and is undefeated with 13 fights. He said his fight against St. Louis-born Vaughn 'Da Animal' Alexander at Fenway will be 'the biggest test of his career.' Massachusetts-born Lexi 'Lil Savage' Bolduc will compete in her fourth professional fight. She faces Sarah Couillard in a rematch after coming out on the losing end of a majority draw at the Royale. 'Fighting at Fenway, I think adds a little bit of pressure because I'm local, I grew up in Mass and idolized a lot of players as I was growing up. ... But at the same time, I'm trying to use it just as a huge opportunity and really soak in the moment,' she said. 'Pressure makes diamonds. 'To be able to kind of stand on that same ground of some of the most accomplished athletes, it's really remarkable,' she said.
