Aaron Judge, Yankees enjoy ‘special’ night in West Sacramento as they crush A’s
There will be many firsts in West Sacramento now that the A’s have brought Major League Baseball temporarily to the capital region. For Yankees superstar Aaron Judge, the weekend marks the first time he’s playing professional baseball in the town in which he was born.
“It just felt like being home,” Judge said Friday night after the Yankees thumped the A’s 10-2 to win the first game of the three-game series. “Any time we play the A’s, that’s always something that’s familiar to me and close to home, to me. It was special.”
Judge, the 6-foot-7 slugger who is leading baseball in most meaningful batting statistics, was born in Sacramento before he was adopted by Patty and Wayne Judge, who were teachers in Linden, 40 miles southeast of Sacramento. He was a three-sport star at Linden High School before playing baseball at Fresno State and eventually becoming one of the most famous players in the sport — Judge is the reigning American League MVP, winning the honor by unanimous vote in 2024.
And like his other trips to Northern California when he’s played against the A’s previously in Oakland or the Giants in San Francisco, he had a big contingent on hand. His friends and family were in a Sutter Health Park luxury suite, which was a bit easier to get to than having to deal with Bay Area traffic, Judge said.
“A lot of family, a lot friends. They had a nice little box up there which was cool to see. Definitely a lot of familiar faces in the crowd,” Judge said.
Friday marked the second-largest crowd at Sutter Health Park since the A’s first season in West Sacramento began. The announced attendance of 12,049 was smaller only than the opening night crowd March 31 against the Chicago Cubs. Predictably, Yankees fans dominated the crowd and were responsible for many of the night’s biggest cheers.
That’s also due to what happened on the field. Jasson Domínguez became the youngest Yankees player in the club’s history to hit three home runs. The left fielder was 22 years and 91 days old as of Friday. The previous youngest Yankee with three home runs: Joe DiMaggio, who was 22 and 200 days old when he clubbed three in June 1937, according to the Associated Press.
Domínguez, a switch hitter, hit two home runs left-handed including an eighth-inning grand slam, plus a right-handed homer in the seventh.
“Tonight was special,” Domínguez said.
The Yankees playing at Sutter Health Park, a minor league facility upgrades to host Major League Baseball, was a spectacle. A’s owner John Fisher made it a point to say he was looking forward to Judge hitting there when the team announced in April 2024 it was coming to West Sacramento after departing from Oakland and before its planned relocation to Las Vegas, while not mentioning any A’s players by name.
Judge reached base twice, with a double in the first inning and an intentional walk by the A’s in the eighth. He scored on the Domínguez grand slam three batters after the walk.
The Yankees had mostly good reviews of the ballpark and the atmosphere — albeit on a night where their fans outnumbered home fans in a game they won by eight runs.
“I loved it,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “I wish we had a night game tomorrow, as hot as it is.”
Forecasts predict high temperatures in the low-to-mid 90s on Saturday, with the teams taking the field at 1:05 p.m.
“But once the sun goes down and it’s warm like that, it’s a really cool environment,” Boone continued. “I think it’s a really pretty park. I think they’ve done a really good job with it. I loved it. I love the atmosphere. I loved my view from the dugout. The field looks like it’s in really good shape. I thought it was great.”
A’s lose third straight game
The A’s didn’t score until plating one run in the eighth and ninth inning. Rookie first baseman Nick Kurtz was the only A’s hitter with more than one hit. Starter Osvaldo Bido allowed four runs on eight hits in 5 1/3 innings, while Yankees hurler Will Warren earned his second win of the season by throwing 7 1/3 innings, allowing just four hits, an earned run and striking out eight.
The A’s have now lost three straight games, with the loss to the Yankees following back-to-back losses to the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday and Wednesday, also at Sutter Health Park.
The A’s fell to 20-19 and were jumped by the Houston Astros (19-18) by percentage points for second place in the American League West. Both teams are three games behind the Mariners (22-15), who lost Friday.
The series continues on Saturday afternoon when the A’s will send former Yankee JP Sears (4-2, 2.93 ERA) to the mound against Carlos Rodon (4-3, 2.96).
This story was originally published May 9, 2025 at 11:29 PM.
