The Yankees called up JP Sears to start Tuesday’s game as a luxury, wanting to give their regular five starting pitchers an extra day of rest during a busy stretch of 20 games in 20 days.
The left-hander fell right in line to keep the Yankees’ winning ways alive and well.
Sears tossed 5 ²/₃ scoreless innings, stifling the Athletics to lead the Yankees to a 2-1 win in The Bronx.
Facing one of MLB’s worst offenses — though the A’s (25-51) did tag Jordan Montgomery for five runs the night before — Sears scattered three hits and one walk while striking out one. He exited the game to an ovation, still not having given up a run across 12 ²/₃ innings (two starts and two relief appearances) with the Yankees this season.
“Just a huge step-up outing by him,” manager Aaron Boone said. “He’s having a great season all-around and he’s done it every opportunity he’s gotten up here. Great job by JP.”
Ron Marinaccio, Wandy Peralta, Michael King and Clay Holmes combined to finish off the Athletics as the Yankees (55-20) clinched the series victory ahead of Wednesday afternoon’s finale.
Sears was optioned back to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after the game, but he continued to show he can give the Yankees quality innings that they will undoubtedly need throughout the season, especially as they monitor the workloads of fellow starters Luis Severino and Nestor Cortes.
“I’m just gonna show up every time my name’s called, fill up the zone and do my best to compete out there,” said Sears, 26, who became the third pitcher in franchise history to throw at least five scoreless innings in each of his first two MLB starts.
The A’s didn’t scratch across a run until the ninth inning off Holmes, after an apparent game-ending groundout was wiped out by a catcher’s interference. Holmes then gave up back-to-back two-out singles, cutting the lead in half before securing the final out.
Athletics left-hander Frankie Montas, who is expected to be one of the top options for pitcher-needy teams at the trade deadline, threw six solid innings but the Yankees got to him early for all they needed.
Jose Trevino put the Yankees ahead for good in the first inning, roping a single to right field that scored DJ LeMahieu from third base. Third-base coach Luis Rojas also waved around Josh Donaldson from second base, but he was easily thrown out at the plate to end the inning.
Marwin Gonzalez then made it 2-0 in the second inning when he crushed his third home run of the season, all of which have come in his last six starts.
“I’ve been feeling a little better,” Gonzalez said. “A little more confidence. I’ve been working hard in the cage the last two weeks and I’ve been feeling better little by little.”
Before the ninth-inning catcher’s interference, the only real angst the rest of the night came from the crowd — booing Joey Gallo after he went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts to fall to 0-for-24 with 13 strikeouts and four walks over his last nine games — and Aaron Boone. The Yankees’ manager was ejected in the bottom of the eighth inning during an Aaron Judge at-bat, with Boone once again voicing his displeasure at low called strikes against his 6-foot-7 slugger.
But the night belonged to Sears, who benefitted from more strong defense behind him and a fine night behind the plate from Trevino, who picked off a runner at first and threw out another attempting to steal second.
The rotation got an extra day of rest and the Yankees got another win.
“That’s huge for us,” Trevino said. “For him to come up and give us some innings, that’s big.”
