Yankees bats stay hot, Carlos Rodon cruises in 8-2 win over Athletics

· Yahoo Sports

The Yankees mashed three home runs and Carlos Rodon pitched his best game since coming off the IL as New York defeated the Athletics, 8-2, on Friday night in West Sacramento.

Here are the takeaways...

-The Yankees bats got to old friend Luis Severino early as an Aaron Judge single knocked home Ben Rice, who reached on an error and advanced to second on a balk, to give them the lead. With two outs and two on, Paul Goldschmidt capped off the big first inning with a three-run blast (380 feet, 99.5 mph exit velocity) on a sweeper that the veteran got around on.  

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Severino would leave the game warming up for the top of the second with what the team called right arm soreness, but the Yankees would get to the A's bullpen, too. Rice drove in a run in the second with a single and Ryan McMahon launched his 150th career home run in the third to give New York a 6-1 lead. 

Rice wasn't done. He hit his team-tying 17th bomb of the year in the seventh and finished 3-for-5, a triple short of the cycle.

-Judge went 1-for-4 with the RBI single and an RBI groundout, while Jose Caballero, starting at shortstop instead of Anthony Volpe, finished 2-for-4 with a run scored. 

The Yankees had 11 hits and the only starters to not get a hit were Jazz Chisholm Jr. (0-5) and J.C. Escarra (0-4). 

-Rodon was on the mound, making his fourth start since returning from the IL and had to grind it out at first. He allowed a solo shot to Nick Kurtz in the first, and the A's had runners on second and first with no outs in the second, but the southpaw worked out of the jam without allowing a run. 

Rodon would scatter baserunners but got stronger as the game went along. He finished up pitching six innings (93 pitches) while allowing just one run on four hits and two walks, while striking out three batters. 

-The Yankees bullpen was up and down, as per usual. Brent Headrick allowed the A's to load the bases with one out in the seventh, before Fernando Cruz bailed Headrick out, getting an inning-ending double play to end the threat. 

Paul Blackburn pitched a clean eighth inning but got into trouble in the ninth, allowing a run on two hits and a walk, but got the final out to start the weekend series on a winning note.

Game MVP: Carlos Rodon

While the offense continued to give plenty of run support, the A's lineup threatened early on and Rodon kept them at bay to make this a laugher. 

Highlights

What's next

The Yankees continue their three-game series in Sacramento on Saturday. First pitch is set for 10:05 p.m.

Ryan Weathers (2-2, 3.14 ERA) will take the mound against J.T. Ginn (2-3, 3.19 ERA). 

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