Aaron Judge hits No. 55, Yankees sweep A’s in last Oakland visit, on verge of AL East crown

OAKLAND, Calif. — With the Athletics moving to Sacramento next season, Yankees manager Aaron Boone pulled out his phone and shot video of his last walk into Oakland Coliseum on Sunday morning. He started coming as a kid when his dad was a catcher for the Angels, then returned as a player, broadcaster and manager.

"I'm pretty nostalgic," Boone said. "I've been coming here since the early '80s. I've seen a lot of baseball here. A lot of great A's teams over the years have been housed here, so it's a little sad."

The Yankees enjoyed their last visit by sweeping the A's. Sunday's 7-4 win cut the Yankees' magic number to one for clinching the AL East.

One of the Yankees' heroes was Northern California native Aaron Judge, who blasted his 55th homer a day after hitting No. 54.

Judge grew up 90 miles east of Oakland in tiny Linden, Calif. He remembers going to A's games only one or two times as a kid because he was a Giants fan and preferred trips to San Francisco.

Judge took batting practice at the Coliseum as a high school senior after the A's drafted him in the 31st round in 2010, but he opted for college and wound up with the Yankees as a first-round pick in 2012. As a minor leaguer, he attended a Yankees-A's game on a date with his girlfriend, who now is his wife.

RESTORING THE GLORY

As usual, Judge's family and friends were on hand for the Yankees' final games in Oakland, and as usual he put on a show. No. 99 was 2-for-3 with a homer and two walks on Sunday to finish with a .323 average (21-for-65), seven homers and 18 RBI in 18 games at the Coliseum.

In the series finale, the Yankees were leading 6-4 when Clay Holmes entered to pitch the eighth, and quickly the A's were in business. A leadoff single and walk put the tying runs on base with nobody out, but Holmes avoided a 14th blown save that would have set a new franchise record.

Holmes struck out Zack Gelof for the first out, then Luke Weaver came on to put out the eighth-inning fire by striking out two in a row, then he pitched a scoreless ninth for a four-out save, his fourth.

The Yankees have Monday off before playing the Orioles three games at Yankee Stadium beginning Tuesday night. With one win, the Yankees will be division champs.

On Sunday, Yankees starter Luis Gil's recent first-inning struggles continued with the A's scoring a pair to take an early 2-0 lead.

Gil (15-6) ended up allowing four runs over 5.1 innings, the other two A's coming in the sixth after he was pulled with two on and Ryan Noda greeted reliever Ian Hamilton with a two-run double that sliced the Yankees' lead to 5-4.

Trailing 2-0, the Yankees tied the game in the second when Jasson Dominguez hit his second homer of the season, then they pulled ahead 3-2 in the third on Judge's homer to dead center.

In the Yankees' fifth, Gleyber Torres hit a leadoff homer and Jazz Chisholm drove in a run with a sacrifice fly to make it a 5-2 game.

-Veteran reliever Lou Trivino no longer is an option tonme nt return to the big leagues this season from Tommy John surgery. The 32-year-old right-hander was shut down last week with a sore shoulder after appearing in eight rehab outings from Aug. 14 to Sept. 13.

- Catcher Austin Wells was 0-for-4 on the day and in a 1-for-25 slump before lining an opposite-field single to left in the ninth inning.

- Judge's 312 career homer moved him up one spot to 146th all-time, one ahead of Hall of Fame catcher Pudge Rodriguez. Next to pass are Reggie Smith (314) and Jeromy Burnitz (315).

- Reliever Jake Cousins went on the 15-day IL, backdated to Sept. 2o, with a strained pectoral muscle. He'll be eligible to return for Game 1 of the Yankees' Division Series, and that'll be a possibility if he resumes throwing this week as the Yankees hope.

- Rookie right-hander Clayton Beeter was recalled from Triple-A to replace Cousins on the Yankees' 27-man roster.

LOOKING AHEAD

Monday: Off day.

Tuesday: Orioles at Yankees, 7:05 p.m., YES & TBS. RHP Dean Kramer (7-10, 4.19) vs. RHP Clarke Schmidt (5-4, 2.37).

Wednesday: Orioles at Yankees, 7:05 p.m., YES. RHP Zach Eflin (10-9, 3.54) vs. LHP Nestor Cortes (9-10, 3.77).

Thursday: Orioles at Yankees, 7:05 p.m., YES & MLB Network. RHP Corbin Burners (15-8, 2.95) vs. RHP Gerrit Cole (7-5, 3.67).