WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Paul Goldschmidt hit a three-run homer, Ryan McMahon and Ben Rice also went deep, and the New York Yankees beat the Athletics 8-2 on Friday night for their fifth straight victory.
Goldschmidt connected in the first inning against Luis Severino (2-6) to stake the Yankees to a 4-0 lead and they rolled from there behind a strong outing from Carlos Rodon (1-2) for the win. Rodon allowed one run and four hits in six innings.
Aaron Judge added two RBIs for New York and Rice moved into a tie with Judge for the team lead with 17 homers on the season.
The Yankees outscored the opposition 36-6 during this current winning streak.
The A’s lost their fourth straight on this homestand and also might have lost Severino to an injury. Severino was grimacing after throwing warmup pitches before the second inning and called for manager Mark Kotsay to come to the mound with an athletic trainer. He left the game with what was described as a sore right arm.
The game didn’t get off to a good start for Severino, who allowed four unearned runs in the first inning to fall to 0-3 in four career starts against his former team.
After Rice reached on an error by first baseman Nick Kurtz, Severino allowed an RBI single to Judge and the homer to Goldschmidt. Severino has allowed 19 runs — 15 earned — in 13 2/3 innings in four starts against New York.
Kurtz hit a solo homer for the A’s, who have been outscored 30-6 during this four-game losing streak.
The A’s have gone 13 straight games without getting a win from a starting pitcher with starters going 0-9 with a 5.64 ERA during that stretch.
Up next
LH Ryan Weathers (2-2, 3.14 ERA) was set to start the second game of the series for the Yankees against RH J.T. Ginn (2-3, 3.19).
