Yankees relinquish late lead as As win slugfest with three homers

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— After his first taste of Major League Baseball in a steamy minor league park, Aaron Judge watched as a couple of mishits ended up on the warning track.“It’s a good place to hit,” Judge declared Friday.“Look forward to tomorrow.”He and much of the Yankees offense seemed to enjoy the perks and quirks of a capital city in which baseballs play more like bouncy balls.The only problem: So did the A’s.On an afternoon in which drifting outfielders were perplexed that the balls just kept traveling, the no-longer-Oakland club used three home runs and a strong finish to out-offense the Yankees 11-7 in front of another sellout at Sutter Health Park on Saturday.The Yankees (22-17) wasted a multihomer game from Judge, a resounding go-ahead shot from Oswald Peraza and a spirited comeback from a four-run deficit.
They led after six innings before the bullpen allowed seven runs in the seventh and eighth.After a five-run sixth that put the Yankees in front by two, the A’s took the lead for good against Fernando Cruz in the seventh.In the frame, Brent Rooker singled and Tyler Soderstrom doubled, putting the tying runs on base.Both scored when Shea Langeliers got under a Cruz splitter, sending center fielder Trent Grisham backpedaling until smacking into the wall for what became a three-run shot.The Yankees threatened in the top of the eighth, putting the tying run on second and go-ahead run on first with one out.
But the A’s turned to fireballing closer Mason Miller, who struck out Ben Rice and Paul Goldschmidt to escape.The A’s avoided a dramatic finish by running away from the Yankees in the bottom of the inning, scoring four runs off a wild Ian Hamilton and a hard-hit Tyler Matzek.Hamilton loaded the bases before handing off to Matzek, who allowed a two-run single to Soderstrom and a two-run d...