Yankees lower their AL East magic number to one as Aaron Judge hits 55th home run to help finish sweep of Athletics

OAKLAND, Calif. — Aaron Judge notched one more lasting memory in a ballpark he repeatedly has described as being “special” to him.

Judge — who has said the first time he truly felt like a Yankee was when he took batting practice at the Oakland Coliseum with the club’s big-leaguers about a week after being drafted in June 2013 — hit his MLB-leading 55th homer and added a double Sunday afternoon in a 7-4 victory over the A’s that completed a three-game sweep.

The AL East-leading Yankees (92-64) moved six games ahead of the Orioles with six games to play and lowered their magic number for clinching the division title to one. One more victory or one more Baltimore loss will give the Yankees the AL East crown, and they can clinch it as soon as Tuesday night when they start a three-game series against the second-place (and falling fast) Orioles.

“It’s going to be rocking,” Judge said of the atmosphere at Yankee Stadium this week. “It’s been rocking all summer long and I don’t expect that to change, especially with what we have coming down to the wire here.”

The Yankees, who have won nine of their last 11 games, also received home runs from Gleyber Torres and Jasson Dominguez in cutting their magic number to clinch the best record in the American League to three (they lead the Guardians by 2 1/2 games and have a tiebreaker advantage over Cleveland). They also matched their high-water mark for the season by going 28 games over .500.

Dominguez’s second homer of what was a 5-1 West Coast trip was a 397-foot two-run shot in the second that tied it at 2-2.

“Really put a charge into it, and to erase the deficit right away, that was big,” Aaron Boone said. “And then just good at-bats from there, really all day. These guys had really good at-bats all series.”

Unlike Saturday’s 10-0 laugher, there were some tense moments Sunday.

Clay Holmes, demoted about two weeks ago from the closer job, came on to protect a 6-4 lead in the eighth and allowed a single and a walk before striking  out Zack Gelof. Boone then brought in Luke Weaver, who struck out Seth Brown and Kyle McCann. After Austin Wells’ RBI double in the top of the ninth made it 7-4, Weaver pitched a perfect ninth for his fourth save in four chances.

Luis Gil (15-6, 3.27), in strong contention for both a postseason rotation spot and AL Rookie of the Year honors, wasn’t sharp, allowing five hits and three walks in 5 1/3 innings. He left a 5-2 game with two on in the sixth and wound up being charged with four runs when Ian Hamilton allowed a two-run double by pinch hitter Ryan Noda.

“The first inning has given me a little bit of trouble, but second inning and beyond, I think I had better execution, better focus and the mixes of pitches I think were better,” Gil said through his interpreter.

Judge, a Northern California native who grew up a San Francisco Giants fan, went 2-for-3 with two walks and two runs in what presumably was his final game at the Coliseum. The A’s (67-89) are slated to play the next three seasons in Sacramento while a new ballpark is getting built for them in Las Vegas.

Judge gave the Yankees a 3-2 lead with one out in the third, blasting a full-count sinker 407 feet to dead center. After going a career-high 16 games without a homer, Judge has four in his last nine games. He leads the Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani by two homers for most in the majors.

Torres led off the fifth with his 15th homer of the season, another 407-foot shot to centerfield. Juan Soto was hit by a pitch and Judge roped a double into the leftfield corner. Wells popped out, but an intentional walk to Giancarlo Stanton loaded the bases and Jazz Chisholm Jr. just missed clearing them, settling for a sacrifice fly that made it 5-2 when JJ Bleday made a terrific running catch on the track in left-center.

Judge walked with one out in the seventh,  and two batters later, Stanton lasered an RBI double into the gap in right-center to make it 6-4.

“It’s definitely sad,” Judge said of being at the Coliseum for the last time. “A lot of great memories here as a player, came here a couple times as a kid. There’s a lot of history in this building. You can go back to the '70s, what they were able to have here three years in a row [World Series winners from 1972-74], and all the special players who have played here. Getting a chance to be on that same field and do some things, it’s definitely something I won’t forget.”