Yankees crushed A's pitching in Sacramento, signaling summer of blowouts in Valley heat

San Francisco Chronicle​

12-05-2025

WEST SACRAMENTO — On Friday night, Aaron Judge's first swing of the bat at Sutter Health Park was his loudest of the weekend. It rocketed out at 114.7 mph off the bat and soared through the warm Central Valley air before bouncing off the left-field wall, a few inches shy of a home run, for a double.
Judge knew the hit wasn't home run material — too much top spin. In his eyes, it was more surprising that the ball had a chance to get over the fence in the first place.
But the reigning American League MVP, playing at this ballpark for the first time since his Fresno State days, couldn't help but smile about what was in store in Sacramento after the New York Yankees' win.
'It's a good place to hit,' Judge said. 'A couple of balls have no business getting to the track like that and they did. Looking forward to tomorrow.'
Sure enough, on Saturday, Judge hit two home runs in back-to-back at-bats. One traveled 399 feet to the opposite field, the next 433 off the newly-constructed batter's eye.
The optics were hard to ignore. The 6-foot-7 Bronx Bomber made the Sacramento Athletics ' temporary big-league home look like the Triple-A ballpark it is. And Judge's show of power unhappily brought to life the vision A's owner John Fisher clumsily invoked when the club initially announced it would be moving into the Sacramento River Cats' home for at least the next three years.
In April 2024, Fisher said he couldn't wait to watch 'Athletics players or Aaron Judge and others launch home runs out of this very intimate, the most intimate ballpark in all Major League Baseball.' In that moment, Fisher couldn't name an A's player he'd like to see do the same.
Yankeses 12, A's 2
New York AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
Totals 42 12 15 12 5 10
Rice dh-c 3 2 1 4 1 0.260
Judge rf 5 1 4 2 0 1.409
a-Reyes ph-rf 1 0 0 0 0 0.174
Bellinger cf 6 0 1 0 0 1.221
Goldschmidt 1b 5 1 3 2 0 0.349
Peraza ss 1 0 0 0 0 1.200
Domínguez lf 5 2 2 0 1 3.250
Volpe ss 5 2 2 1 0 1.236
Escarra 1b 0 0 0 0 0 0.212
Wells c 3 2 1 0 1 1.214
Matzek p 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---
Cabrera 3b 4 2 1 2 1 0.243
Vivas 2b 4 0 0 1 1 2.158
Athletics AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
Totals 32 2 7 2 3 4
Wilson ss 4 0 0 0 0 1.348
Rooker dh 4 1 1 0 0 1.253
Soderstrom lf 3 0 1 0 0 0.288
Brown lf 0 0 0 0 1 0.220
Langeliers c 4 0 1 0 0 0.248
Andujar rf 3 0 1 1 0 0.306
Schuemann rf 1 0 0 0 0 0.235
Kurtz 1b 3 0 0 0 0 1.269
b-Pereda ph 1 0 0 0 0 1.194
Urías 2b 3 0 1 0 1 0.259
Bleday cf 4 1 1 1 0 0.216
Urshela 3b 2 0 1 0 1 0.233
New York 051 050 100_12 15 0
Athletics 000 110 000_2 7 0
a-popped out for Judge in the 8th. b-struck out for Kurtz in the 9th.
LOB: New York 11, 6. 2B: Goldschmidt 3 (11), Cabrera (4), Judge (11). 3B_Goldschmidt (1). HR: Rice (9), off Spence; Bleday (5), off Yarbrough. RBIs: Volpe (22), Cabrera 2 (11), Vivas (3), Judge 2 (39), Rice 4 (20), Goldschmidt 2 (20), Andujar (16), Bleday (16).
Runners left in scoring position_New York 9 (Reyes, Volpe 2, Goldschmidt 2, Vivas 2, Domínguez 2); Athletics 2 (Urías 2). RISP: New York 6 for 20; 1 for 4.
Runners moved up: Vivas, Cabrera, Langeliers, Kurtz. GIDP: Urshela, Andujar.
DP: New York 2 (Volpe, Vivas, Goldschmidt; Volpe, Vivas, Goldschmidt).
New York IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
Yarbrough, W, 1-0 5 6 2 2 1 2 67 3.70
De Los Santos 3 0 0 0 2 1 34 1.29
Matzek 1 1 0 0 0 1 21 4.76
Athletics IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
Severino, L, 1-4 4 9 8 8 2 2 97 4.70
Spence 2 4 3 3 1 4 44 5.11
Alvarado 1 2 1 1 0 2 21 10.13
McFarland 1-3 0 0 0 0 0 3 5.23
Harris 1 2-3 0 0 0 2 2 28 4.38
Inherited runners-scored: Spence 2-2. HBP: Severino (Rice), Spence (Wells), Alvarado (Rice). WP: Severino.
Umpires: Home, Edwin Moscoso; First, Tom Hanahan; Second, Chris Guccione; Third, David Rackley.
T: 2:49. A: 12,224 (14,014).
The slugging Yankees made the ballpark look tiny as they combined for 29 runs in three games to take the 2-1 series win after Sunday's 12-2 blowout victory. Judge's big game thrilled Yankees fans who took over the ballpark's stands. But the series between the A's and Yankees brought up again the question: When do the problems outweigh the novelty of playing MLB games in a minor league ballpark?
Home runs by venue A's Foes Total
HRs in A's 21 home games 22 35 57
HRs in A's 20 road games 29 12 41
Impressive as it is how quickly the A's and their partners in Sacramento renovated Sutter Health with new clubhouses, weight-training rooms and all the necessities, the visiting clubhouse barely has room to walk through and the home clubhouse doesn't have much room for activities.
More than a month into this shared arrangement, it has become noticeable how much the River Cats — the Giants' Triple-A affiliate whose home this first belonged to — must defer to the A's needs. Sometimes, that means the River Cats' staff has to pack up and remove everything from their training rooms to make way for the big league teams.
'It's different, it's tough,' Giants infielder Brett Wisely, who spent the first month in Triple-A, said. 'Triple-A, we always get the short end of the stick. Whenever the A's need something, we're kicked out.'
The actual ballpark dimensions and elements are a challenge, too. Judge's pair of home runs were two of 12 hit between the two teams in the three-game series. The ball was flying as Saturday marked one of the hottest days of the season yet, but visiting Yankees players were thrown by the swirling winds. That kind of weather pattern could happen in any big league ballpark, but the conditions will take some adjusting to, the New York players noted.
A's infielder Luis Urias hit a second-inning fly ball on Saturday off Carlos Rodon that had a .090 expected batting average according to Statcast, but got a nudge from the wind at the right-field foul pole turned it into a home run.
'Definitely hitter-friendly, but everyone is playing in this park so it's part of it,' Rodon said. 'You can account for the wind, there's not many buildings around to knock it down, (it's) not a big built-up stadium so the wind played a big factor, especially during the day.'
Asked if there was anything he could change in his approach in this ballpark, Rodon said, 'get more ground balls.'
Luis Severino, Sunday's starter for the A's, previously expressed concerns over playing in a minor league ballpark, but most of those qualms had to do with the logistics. He revealed how much of a challenge it's been pitching at Sutter Health Park, one that's telling in his home and away splits: He has a 7.10 ERA in six home starts with a 0.95 ERA in three away games.
'Pitching here is tough,' Severino said. 'Some days the ball is flying, some days it's not. Last time, the ball was flying to right field and left field wasn't flying. You have to know how to pitch here. It's tough, I'm not going to lie, but in the end it's what we have and what we have to deal with.'
The oddities are hard to ignore, but the park's novelty has its moments. On a crowded summer day, the concourse feels almost state fair-like, with families picnicking in the outfield lawn. The team store is filled with A's merchandise that staffers must switch out when the River Cats return home.
For the players, a media-frenzied opening series at Sutter Health slowed their ability to settle into their new home, but they've made an underdog sentiment a driving force.
'You can make excuses for playing in a Triple-A ballpark. Our motto is, nobody cares,' A's outfielder Tyler Soderstrom said. 'The more comfortable we got here, we've made it our home for sure. That's our mindset going into it. Visiting teams are going to come in here and try to beat up on us. Nobody cares that we're in a minor league ballpark, still have to come out every day and put the work in, the effort in and take care of business. It took us a little bit to get settled in, but we're definitely building our home now.'
How long the novelty can last is still to be seen.