The Yankees made the most of their get-right series by sweeping the worst team in baseball.
Now they will try to funnel that momentum into taking another shot at the best team in baseball.
In between showdowns against the division rival Rays, the Yankees got a laugher of a series against the Athletics, which they completed on Wednesday afternoon with an 11-3 blowout in The Bronx — capped off by Anthony Volpe’s first career grand slam.
Coming off a brutal loss to the Rays on Sunday in Tampa, which cost them a chance to win the series, the Yankees (21-17) came home to the soft cushion of playing the lowly A’s (8-30).
The three-game series was a welcome respite — in which the Yankees outscored the A’s 28-10 — from an otherwise mediocre start to the season.
“We wanted to come in here and take care of business at home,” said Aaron Judge, who was on the IL for the last series against the Rays. “This is just getting us ready for another big series here with the Rays. We were kind of back and forth down there at the Trop.
“We’re looking forward to it.”
Before welcoming the Rays to The Bronx for a four-game series on Thursday, the Yankees enjoyed one more round of batting practice that counted as a real game Wednesday.
It included a three-hit day from Judge, more home runs for Harrison Bader and DJ LeMahieu, and Volpe’s first-pitch grand slam that put an exclamation point on a seven-run fifth inning.
Deivi Garcia even got in on the fun, making his first appearance for the Yankees in nearly two years and pitching the final three innings for the save.
The end result was winning for the sixth time in their last eight games — the only two losses coming to the Rays last weekend — after dropping seven of nine before that.
“I definitely think we’re trending,” Volpe said. “Just the way we’ve played the past week has been way better than it was in that little rough stretch. Regardless of the results, we’re starting to trend towards better results, per se. I feel like if we keep playing this brand of baseball, we’ll be just fine.”
Just how real the Yankees’ offensive outburst against the A’s was will be tested over the next four days against the Rays’ tough pitching staff — though the club’s streak of four straight games scoring seven runs or more (after doing so just four times in their first 34 games) started on Sunday in St. Petersburg, Fla. against the Rays.
“I just like our approach,” manager Aaron Boone said. “I like where our mind is. I like where our room is. I like how we’re preparing, and that’s the thing we can control right now. Obviously getting a couple guys back in our lineup [Bader and Judge] has been big for us. It’s just nose-down. We’ve got a very difficult opponent coming in as part of this homestand. We just gotta keep on moving.”
The Yankees jumped on A’s left-hander Kyle Muller for four runs in the first inning Wednesday, including a fan-assisted, three-run home run from Bader.
A’s right fielder JJ Bleday had his sights set on robbing it at the wall, but before he could, a fan in the front row reached his glove above the wall to make the catch first.
After a crew chief review, the home run stood as called on the field, giving Bader his third home run in eight games for a 4-0 lead.
The Yankees later batted around in the fifth inning. Judge got the rally started with his first hit since coming off the IL on Tuesday, a 115.2 mph double, before scoring on a single from Anthony Rizzo, whose two-hit effort extended his hitting streak to eight games.
LeMahieu then crushed a two-run homer, his second of the series, before Volpe added the grand slam.
Now, a rematch with the Rays awaits.
“I think we’re just really excited for the level of competition, which allows us to play looser and more confidently,” Bader said. “I’m certainly looking forward to it and I know this lineup is as well.”
