Yankees sweep A’s in final Oakland faceoff

It’s only fitting that the New York Yankees sent off the Oakland Athletics with a clean series sweep. As the franchise that’s delivered the Oakland fanbase more heartbreak than any other over the last 25 years, through regular season and postseason dominance, something about it just felt right.

The Moneyball narrative has dominated Oakland baseball history in that time, but that story could not have been told without the juxtaposition of our bargain-bin franchise competing head-to-head against the fat-pocketed Yankees. As painful as it’s been to lose to them time and time again, such is the life of an Oakland A’s fan and I’ll remember every moment of it.

And now Shooty Babitt is breaking down on A’s Postgame Live as he does his last show with Brodie Brazil. Man, this is gonna be a long week.

Sigh. Back to the ballgame.

Unlike the 10-0 sword the A’s fell on yesterday, the team actually had a few chances to grab a hold of this one today. Unfortunately the Yankees executed just a bit more when the moments mattered most.

Tyler Soderstrom quickly ended the scoring drought in the bottom of the 1st, doubling off Yankees starter Luis Gil to score JJ Bleday and Shea Langeliers coming off back-to-back walks. This final week will be crucial for the young first baseman to prove to the front office he’s healthy and mature enough to lock up a 2025 Opening Day roster spot. Ending the day with two hits and two walks definitely didn’t hurt.

Over the new few innings, the Yankees grabbed full control of the game, getting a barrage of hits and homers off Joey Estes in potentially his final start of the season. Jasson Dominguez, Aaron Judge, and Gleyber Torres taught the 22-year-old a much-needed lesson: every pitch matters. With an arsenal that isn’t overpowering, one of the rookie’s biggest weapons is his command, as he rarely ever walks more than one batter in an outing. However, even though he was throwing a ton of fourth balls, he was throwing a lot of first-pitch meatballs, three of which resulted in the aforementioned homers. If he wants to have success against big bad offenses like the Yanks, Estes will need to progress from a strike-always to a location-always approach as he moves forward in his development.

With the game now 5-2 in the bottom of the 6th, Oakland nearly came all the way back with another big two-run double from a first baseman. This time it was Ryan Noda, delivering off the bench as a pinch-hitter for Max Schuemann. After working a 3-1 count, as he often does, the journeyman showed signs that his mojo’s returning, slicing a slider to the right field corner and scoring the runners from first and second.

Unfortunately, the A’s squandered this chance and another to really give themselves a chance to win the ballgame. Michel Otanez and Scott Alexander each allowed another run each and the contest was settled at a 7-4 score for New York.

And so there you have it: one last Coliseum loss to the Yankees with one last Coliseum series to go. I’ll be driving up from Los Angeles for the Wednesday game. I can’t wait to see y’all there.