Yankees repeat impossible rally second time in 125 years to sink A’s 13-8

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The New York Yankees had not managed a single hit through two innings on Sunday. They trailed the Athletics 3-0. The visitors’ dugout at Sutter Health Park felt lifeless.

Then one inning changed everything, and rewrote the record books along with it.

The Yankees erupted for 13 runs in the top of the third inning, batting around twice and burying the A’s in a 13-8 win that closed out a 5-1 road trip. The outburst tied the second-biggest inning in the 125-year history of one of baseball’s most storied franchises. The only larger frame came more than a century ago.

What made it stranger still is what happened around it. Outside of that 43-minute eruption, the Yankees did not record a single hit all afternoon.

Twelve straight Yankees reach to open the inning

Anthony Volpe got it started with a bloop single to center, the Yankees’ first hit of the day. Max Schuemann and Austin Wells followed with walks to load the bases. Paul Goldschmidt then beat out an infield single when the pitcher failed to cover first, pushing across the first run.

From there, the floodgates opened for the Yankees. Ben Rice laced a two-run double to tie the game. Judge blooped an RBI single to take the lead. Cody Bellinger singled home another run to chase Lopez, who failed to retire any of the seven batters he faced.

The relentless Yankees procession continued against reliever Michael Kelly. By the time Goldschmidt struck out for the inning’s first out, the Yankees had already scored 10 runs. The first 12 batters of the inning had all reached base safely.

That streak tied a franchise mark set on Sept. 11, 1949, against Washington, a rally once led by Phil Rizzuto with Joe DiMaggio and Yogi Berra behind him. It also matched the record for most consecutive batters reaching to start an inning in the expansion era, joining the 2009 Red Sox and the 1986 Royals.

Rice powers the biggest Yankees inning in 21 years

The Yankees damage did not stop at the first out. Rice came up a second time and tripled to right field for two more runs, giving him a two-run double and a two-run triple in the same inning. Bellinger added another RBI single to make it 13-3.

Ben Rice finished the inning with four RBI on his two extra-base hits. Volpe, Rice and Bellinger each collected two hits in the frame. Eight of the nine Yankees in the lineup had at least one hit and one RBI, with Wells the lone exception after drawing two walks and scoring twice. Every batter in the lineup crossed the plate.

The 13-run inning was one shy of the franchise record of 14, set on July 6, 1920, against the Washington Senators, when Babe Ruth drew an intentional walk and later delivered a two-run single. It marked the Yankees’ biggest inning since they plated 13 in the eighth against Tampa Bay on June 21, 2005. The famed 1927 club of Ruth and Lou Gehrig never scored 13 in a single frame.

A first in American League history for the Yankees

The most unusual part of the Yankees day was the symmetry. All 11 of the Yankees’ hits and all 13 of their runs came in the third inning. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, no team since MLB expanded in 1961 had ever scored 13 or more runs with every one of its hits confined to a single inning.

The Yankees mark went further than that. The Yankees became the first team in American League history to score 13 or more runs in a game with all of them coming in one inning. The feat had happened only twice before in the majors, both in the National League, by the 1972 Braves and the 2003 Phillies.

Remarkably, the Yankees pulled it off without a home run, despite leading the majors with 86 homers in 59 games. They did it with eight singles, two doubles, a triple, four walks and four stolen bases. It was just the fifth time in the expansion era a team scored 13 or more in an inning without leaving the yard.

The inning was so long that Warren had to jog to the bullpen during a pitching change to stay loose. He threw about seven warmup pitches before returning to the mound.

Warren and Bednar hold off a late A’s push

Warren made the giant Yankees lead stand up. The right-hander had given up three unearned runs in the first inning after Trent Grisham lost a fly ball in the sun, but he settled in for six innings without an earned run, striking out five. The win improved him to 7-1 with a 3.22 ERA.

The Athletics refused to go quietly. They scored four runs in the seventh off Tim Hill on a solo homer by Brent Rooker and a three-run shot by Jonah Heim, then added another in the eighth to cut the deficit to 13-8. Closer David Bednar worked around a walk and a single in the ninth to end it.

Judge’s message wakes up the Yankees

The Yankees turnaround did not start with a swing. It started with words. Captain Aaron Judge had seen enough after the Yankees were retired in order through the first two innings against A’s left-hander Jacob Lopez. He gathered his teammates in the dugout and delivered a blunt message.

Judge explained afterward what he was feeling in that moment, and why he felt compelled to speak up before the third inning began.

“I just felt like we were a little asleep there during the first two innings,” Judge said. “I expect more out of the guys. I know they expect more out of themselves. A couple of choice words there just to get it going, and the boys responded.”

Starting pitcher Will Warren summed up the speech in three words. The boys woke up. What followed was one of the most remarkable half innings the franchise has ever produced.

Manager Aaron Boone described the afternoon as one of the strangest he could remember. He acknowledged it was far from a clean game on either side.

“Today was one of those crazy games that I don’t know what it was, but it was a win,” Boone said.

The Yankees improved to 36-23 and sit second in the American League East, 1 1/2 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays. They are off Monday before opening a three-game series against the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday in the Bronx, with Cam Schlittler scheduled to start.

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