OAKLAND, Calif. — — Gerrit Cole is having a blast watching Aaron Judge hit baseballs over the fence at a remarkable rate.
And Judge, well, he loves watching Cole rack up strikeouts from his spot in the outfield.
“Especially in center field,” Judge said. “In right field, you’re just reacting there, you can’t really see the guys painting the corners or what they’re doing. But when you’re in center field and you can see a guy like that work and strike out guys that he did, the sequences that he did, he was connected from the first pitch that he threw.”
Cole struck out 11 in his first win since July 17, and Judge hit a three-run homer in the fifth inning to help the New York Yankees beat the Oakland Athletics 3-2 on Friday.
Judge’s 49th home run of the season was the 200th for the Yankees, who lead the majors.
“For me, it’s really special,” Cole said. “I have the best seat in the house every night for the Aaron Judge show, which is unique right now.”
Cole (10-6) gave up one run on three hits in 7 1/3 innings to snap a six-start winless streak in which he went 0-4 since beating Boston last month. He reached double-digit wins for the eighth time in his career.
Cole had his seventh start of the season with 10 or more strikeouts. He has 1,335 strikeouts since 2017, the most in the majors during that span.
Jonah Bride hit his first career home run in the seventh against Cole. After Jonathan Loáisiga got the last two outs of the eighth, Wandy Peralta allowed an RBI single to pinch hitter Dermis Garcia, but he finished the 2 hour, 50 minute game for his third save.
New York faced a former Yankee for the second straight game. Left-hander JP Sears (5-1) pitched against his old team for the first time since he joined Oakland in a trade for Frankie Montas and Lou Trivino before the Aug. 2 trade deadline.
Sears allowed Judge’s home run and eight hits in six innings with three strikeouts and four walks. Oakland’s loss came one night after allowing 20 hits in a 13-4 loss, the most the A’s allowed since Cleveland had 20 on July 1, 2018.
Judge supported in the stands by friends of his church in the Central Valley Stockton City, walked in his other three plate appearances, once intentionally. He is three home runs away from matching a career high of 52 sets during his 2017 American League Rookie of the Year season.
Judge isn’t counting his home runs, insisting “it’s just another number.”
“I’m just trying to be a good hitter, trying to be a great teammate,” Judge said. “Day after day, that’s always my goal.”
New York’s Jose Treviño was hit by a pitch in the eighth by Jared Koenig and initially played on before coming off in the ninth.
Manager Aaron Boone said Treviño injured his big toe and immediately felt pain and stiffness.
“You fear the worst when you see it, but good news on the X-ray,” Boone said. “We’ll see what we have in the future.”
The Yankees have won all five of their season series matchups with Oakland, which has lost four of its last five games overall.
COACHES ROOM
Yankees: OF Harrison Bader, on the 60-day disabled list with plantar fasciitis in his right foot, has started hitting and could start his progression this weekend. He won’t be on the Yankees’ West Coast tour that includes a series in Anaheim early next week, but he could rejoin the club in Tampa, Fla., next Friday and continue rehabbing at their facility there. … 1B DJ LeMahieu returned to play after a day off and will be closely monitored by the training staff the rest of the way as he deals with inflammation in his right big toe. Treatment has been helping. “It’s going to be something we pay attention to the rest of the year,” Boone said. … All-Star LHP Nestor Cortes continues to work on flat ground after going on the 15-day disabled list Thursday with a left groin strain. “The next big challenge is going to be getting off the mound,” Boone said.
Athletics: OF Skye Bolt (right knee) went on the 10-day disabled list a day after being hit by a pitch from Yankees rookie Greg Weissert in a wild major league debut for the reliever. Bolt threw his bat down in frustration. He felt his kneecap slip, according to athletic trainer Nick Paparesta. “We don’t think there’s a lot of damage inside the knee,” Paparesta said. “We felt like it would be better to give this a chance to heal properly, get him back to full function and mobility with his strength rather than trying to mess with this a little bit and injure other things and make up for the issues. that may come up.” … RHP Brent Honeywell threw 45 pitches over two innings Thursday for Triple-A Las Vegas and his next move is expected to be pitching back-to-back days out of the bullpen next week. He was shut down during spring training in late March with a stress reaction in his pitching elbow.
UNTIL NEXT TIME
Yankees RHP Domingo Germán (2-2, 3.89 ERA) enters Saturday having allowed three runs or fewer in his last six starts, the second-longest streak of his career. The A’s counterattack with RHP Adam Oller (2-6, 6.41) as he looks to bounce back from a loss to the Marlins. Oller is 0-0 with a 3.86 ERA in two career appearances against New York.
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