Yankees sweep Athletics. Domínguez, Judge, and Torres homer in win.

The Yankees ' Saturday home run surge carried over to Sunday afternoon. Jasson Domínguez, Aaron Judge, and Gleyber Torres each went yard, matching the home run total from the previous night. Although Luis Gil endured a grueling 5.1 innings of work on the mound today, the offense and reliever Luke Weaver helped secure the 7-4 win for the Bronx Bombers. The sweep of the Athletics marked the Yankees' first such dusting since late July .

Gil's troubles started early in the game. With two outs in the bottom of the first, the sterling rookie's primary blemish reared its ugly head, as Gil lost control of the strike zone on back-to-back walks to JJ Bleday and Shea Langeliers. Both Bleday and Langeliers scored after Tyler Soderstrom doubled to right field giving the Athletics a 2-0 lead. The three free passes issued by Gil today boost his total to an MLB-leading 76.

But the Yankees didn't wait long to tie it up. With one out in the top of the second, Jazz Chisholm Jr. worked a walk against Joey Estes, with Domínguez on deck. The Martian came up big with a 397-foot blast to right field, tying the game.

The tie was brief as well. In the top of the third, Judge hit a dinger to center field, No. 55 on the season, giving the Yankees a 3-2 lead over Oakland.

Judge's blast spurred MVP chants once again throughout the Coliseum, hosting the Yankees for likely the final time . The long ball gave Judge his 138th RBI, and his 55 homers rank sixth among the best single seasons in Yankees history, trailing only his AL record 62 from 2022, Roger Maris' 61 in 1961, and Babe Ruth's 60-homer and 59-homer campaigns in 1927 and 1921, respectively.

In the bottom of the third, Gil worked himself into more trouble, giving up a one-out single to Bleday and a two-out walk to Soderstrom. I expected him to give up the lead with Zack Gelof at the plate, but he miraculously got Gelof to strike out swinging, ending the inning with the Yankees lead still intact.

In the top of the fifth, the Yankees bolstered their lead by bringing out the fireworks yet again with Torres hitting a solo home run, No. 15 on the season, to dead center, bringing the Yankees lead to 4-2. Estes' day came to an end after he hit Juan Soto and gave up a double to Judge, which moved Soto to third. In his subpar performance, Estes gave up seven hits and five earned runs.

Estes was followed by reliever Kyle Muller, who came into the game with no outs recorded in the inning. One out later, he intentionally walked Giancarlo Stanton. Chisholm followed Stanton with a long sacrifice fly to center, scoring Soto, and increasing the Yankees' lead to 5-2.

Although Gil struggled early on, he recovered in the fourth and fifth innings, and by the end of the fifth, he had retired seven batters in a row. However, after he gave up a single to Soderstrom and Gelof with only one out in the bottom of the sixth, Yankees manager Aaron Boone went to his bullpen, bringing in Ian Hamilton to replace Gil. This was his first appearance since Wednesday against the Mariners. But the extra rest did not seem to benefit Hamilton, as following a lineout by Seth Brown, he gave up a double to pinch-hitter Ryan Noda, scoring Soderstrom and Gelof, bringing the score to 5-4.

Although Gil earned the win, the rookie's performance today was definitely disappointing against a sub-.500 team like Oakland, especially compared to his three solid outings this month. He lasted 5.1 innings and allowed four runs, three walks, and five hits. The command needs to be better if Gil's to be trusted with playoff starts.

With their three-run down to one, the Yankees' offense went right back to work in the top of the seventh. Athletics' manager Mark Kotsay opted to go back to the bullpen and replace Muller with Michel Otañez. That decision quickly backfired when Otañez walked Judge on four pitches. Judge advanced to second after a groundout to shortstop Jacob Wilson. With two outs, Stanton doubled to center, scoring Judge from second, adding another run to their lead, 6-4.

Boone opted to bring Clay Holmes in the game in the bottom of the eighth. I can't help but wonder if Boone enjoys causing panic among us fans since he can't seem to help himself when it comes to entrusting Holmes to maintain a lead. To my relief, Boone saw enough of Holmes after he gave up a single to Langeliers and walked Soderstrom. Luke Weaver took over for Holmes with two runners on and one out. Weaver didn't disappoint, striking out Brown and Kyle McCann to end the inning.

The Yankees bolstered their lead in the top of the ninth against Athletics' reliever Scott Alexander. After Alexander walked Soto and Judge, Austin Wells hit a double to left, scoring Soto and advancing Judge to third, with the Yankees leading 7-4.

Weaver came back in to pitch the ninth, securing the win and pitching a five-out save, his fourth save since being installed as the unofficial closer in place of Clay Holmes (who again looked shaky in the eighth). I'm ready for Boone to commit to naming Weaver as the permanent closer for the remainder of the 2024 campaign, postseason included.

The Yankees return home after tonight for their final two series of the regular season. On Tuesday, they will face the Baltimore Orioles , who lost today against the Detroit Tigers . With the Yankees' magic number at one, the Yankees could clinch the AL East with just a single win in any of the three upcoming games against the O's in the Bronx. Clarke Schmidt will start it off on Tuesday against Baltimore's Dean Kremer, with first pitch set for 7:05pm ET.