Aaron Judge hit a two-run homer one pitch after Joe Boyle was called for a balk in the first inning as the New York Yankees went on to defeat the Oakland Athletics 7-3 on Wednesday night for their fifth straight win. Anthony Rizzo and Juan Soto later homered off A’s relievers, who fell to 1-11 in their last 11 games at Yankee Stadium.
Boyle (1-4) appeared to have thrown a fastball for a called third strike on the outside corner but was charged with a balk as Judge began walking to the Yankees’ dugout. Judge then hit an outside fastball to the short porch in right field for his 261st homer, passing Derek Jeter for ninth on the Yankees’ all-time list.
Boyle told reporters after the game that the balk gave Judge “a free pitch that he got to see,” chalking up the homer to poor pitch selection — repeating an outside fastball — after the balk was called when an umpire ruled he didn’t come set.
“Pitch clock was running down, probably should have stepped off, but tried to squeeze a pitch in,” Boyle said of the balk. “I felt like I stopped, but obviously they saw it differently.”
Oakland had already suffered a loss before the game as second baseman Zach Gelof was scratched with an oblique strain. Manager Mark Kotsay said postgame that Gelof will likely be placed on the injured list. Gelof had played all 24 games for the A’s this season prior to Wednesday.
Boyle only made it through three innings despite allowing just those two runs on the Judge home run because his pitch count ran to 85 by the end of the third. He struck out six Yankees and allowed four walks.
“It’s something that we’ll continue to work on with Joe,” Kotsay said of Boyle’s strike throwing.
Brent Rooker hit a three-run homer in the sixth that knocked out New York starter Clarke Schmidt and tightened the game to 5-3 after a Soto sacrifice fly and Rizzo’s home run, but that was the only scoring play for the A’s. Soto hit a home run to center one inning later and Alex Verdugo had a sacrifice fly in the eighth.
Schmidt (2-0) allowed three runs and four hits in 5 1/3 innings. The right-hander struck out six and walked two.
The A’s work in the field was suspect, as they committed a pair of errors. First baseman Ryan Noda threw high on a potential double-play ball in the third inning, then Nick Allen committed a fielding error in the eighth inning. Neither error cost Oakland any runs, but a fourth-inning outfield misplay by Lawrence Butler turned into an RBI triple for New York’s Anthony Volpe.
The Yankees also reached on two infield singles and a bunt single against the A’s, who overtook New York for the second-most errors on the season at 20 through 25 games. Oakland LHP Alex Wood (0-2, 7.89 ERA) opposes New York LHP Nestor Cortes (1-1, 3.41) in the finale of the four-game series Thursday.
