Yankees vs. Athletics: M.L.B. Playoffs 2018 Live Updates

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Luis Severino has six strikeouts through three innings for the Yankees, who lead the Athletics, 2-0, on the strength of Aaron Judge’s two-run home run in the first inning of this American League wild-card game.

Refresh here for inning-by-inning updates and analysis from Yankee Stadium.

Aaron Judge rounds the bases after hitting a two-run home run in the first inning.CreditChang W. Lee/The New York Times

How to watch (or listen): TBS has the broadcast, or you can listen at ESPN Radio, WFAN 660/101.9 FM and WADO 1280 (local).

Top 3rd: A’s Make a Little Noise, but No Runs

The A’s finally made some decent contact against Luis Severino, but it didn’t make a difference in another scoreless inning.

Marcus Semien led off the inning with walk on six pitches. Jonathan Lucroy was quickly erased on a three-pitch strikeout in which he simply flailed at a slider way off the plate. Nick Martini hit a sharp grounder to first that should have set up a double-play, but the A’s got a little from Luke Voit, whose throw forced shortstop Didi Gregorius to dive for it, yielding just one out instead of two. With two outs, Matt Chapman lined out to right to end the inning.

Severino has six strikeouts and two walks in three innings and has yet to allow a hit.

Bottom 2nd: A’s Switch Pitchers and Get Out of a Jam

The A’s have already gone to the bullpen, replacing Liam Hendriks with Lou Trivino after just an inning. And while Trivino got himself in trouble, with two on and no outs, he escaped with a scoreless inning.

The right-hander starting things off by allowing a soft infield single to Didi Gregorius and a walk to Miguel Andujar, who had just 25 walks in 606 plate appearances this season. A first-pitch ball to Gary Sanchez prompted a visit to the mound from Oakland’s pitching coach, Scott Emerson, and that got Trivino settled down enough to induce a double-play ball from the struggling catcher.

With two outs and a runner on third, Trivino struck out Gleyber Torres on a curveball in the dirt to end the inning.

Top 2nd: Severino Has 5 Strikeouts Through 2 Innings

Staked to a lead, Luis Severino came out and immediately struck out the major league home run leader, Khris Davis, fanning him on a slider on the fifth pitch of the at-bat. With one out, he was fairly cautious with Matt Olson, throwing the first baseman mostly stuff outside the strike zone in what turned into a fairly epic nine-pitch at-bat that ended with a walk. He continued to have his pitches dart all over the zone against Stephen Piscotty, but this time he won the battle, getting a called strike three on an inside slider that simply froze Piscotty. That left Ramon Laureano, a rookie, up with one on and two outs, and he struck out to end the inning.

The A’s didn’t do any real damage in the inning, and have already struck out five times, but they have gotten Severino’s pitch count up to 37, which could work in their favor going forward.

David Waldstein: We like what Severino did in the second inning, going to his breaking ball more to strike out the side, wrapped around a harmless walk to Olson. Severino threw 28 pitches in the frame after throwing only 9 in the first, but looked a little more artful about it and his confidence is clearly redlining.

Word from the right field stands is that soon after the Yankees went ahead on Aaron Judge’s home run, the fans out there began with the anti-Boston chant. Still 21 outs to go before it’s “On to Boston.”

Bottom 1st: Aaron Judge Blast Gives Yankees an Early Lead

The Yankees were the first to score when Aaron Judge crushed a two-run homer over the left-field fence off Liam Hendriks, taking advantage of a reliever pressed into starter duty who came in far too amped up and had trouble keeping his pitches in the strike zone.

Hendriks doesn’t have the stamina of Severino but has shown the raw stuff to occasionally dominate. His first half-inning, which is quite likely his entire effort for the day, showed off the foibles of putting out an untested reliever in a pressure situation. He threw a first-pitch strike to Andrew McCutchen but then seemed to be too amped up on his fastballs, walking the leadoff batter on five pitches. That brought up Judge, who laid off the first three offerings, and then when he got a fat 96-mile-per-hour fastball on the inside of the strike zone he crushed it 427 feet, with M.L.B.’s Statcast system recording it as having come off his bat at 116.1-mph.

The Oakland bullpen immediately showed activity, but Hendriks calmed down enough to get Aaron Hicks to line out to first. He struck out Giancarlo Stanton on eight pitches and then finished the inning by retiring Luke Voit on a fly ball to center on just one pitch.

David Waldstein: Yankee Stadium came alive on Aaron Judge’s two-run home to left. He absolutely crushed it and Liam Hendricks, the A’s opener, was fortunate to get out of the inning giving up only those runs. Aaron Hicks hit a ball very hard, but right to first baseman Matt Olson, and so the A’s immediately had action in the bullpen with former Yankees relief pitcher Shawn Kelley warming up.

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Luis Severino in the first inning.CreditChang W. Lee/The New York Times

Top 1st: Luis Severino Mows A’s Down

The top of the first inning didn’t look anything like Luis Severino’s first postseason game last year. He got things started right with a three-pitch strikeout of Nick Martini, catching Oakland’s leadoff batter looking at a pitch down the middle. He needed just two pitches to retire Matt Chapman on a grounder to third and then struck out Jed Lowrie on five pitches. Oakland looked completely lost against the Yankees’ one-time ace, who had been inconsistent in the second half of the season.

David Waldstein: Small sample size, but already the bold decision to go with Severino looks good. The right-hander came out blazing, and the Athletics’ hitters had trouble catching up to his 98 mile-per-hour fastballs as he set the side down in order with two strikeouts.

It was critical for the Yankees that Severino got off to a strong start in order to dispel any doubt that he could rebound from last year’s disaster when he surrendered three runs to the Minnesota Twins in the first inning and only recorded one out. Plus, Severino has a 5.23 earned run average in four career starts against the A’s, and that was 6.23 this year after a dismal start in Oakland on Sept. 5.

Live From Yankee Stadium: Yankees vs. Athletics

It is perfect night for baseball in the Bronx and the fans here are jazzed for the game, unleashing huge cheers for the Yankees in the pregame warmups. A half-hour before the first pitch the fans in the left-field bleachers were already in top form, booing and hooting at Liam Hendricks, the A’s nominal starting pitcher, as he headed to the bullpen to warm up.

It was a lot of energy expended on a pitcher who may only throw one inning. Oakland has opted to go with a bullpen game, using a series of relief pitchers rather than a typical starter, and they are expect to use more than just a few.

The Yankees have seen the tactic several times this season, with the Tampa Bay Rays, Minnesota Twins and Oakland employing the strategy. The Yankees may end up going that route, as well, because their starter, Luis Severino, has not pitched well in the second half of the season and he was knocked out in the first inning of last year’s wild-card game, which the Yankees came back to win.

The Yankees are confident in Severino, whose fastball command is going to be a key against a lineup that has had trouble this year with heavy fastballs. But if he shows signs of faltering, the Yankees, too, will be quick to summon help from their bullpen. — David Waldstein

Athletics Starting Lineup

Nick Martini, LF

Matt Chapman, 3B

Jed Lowrie, 2B

Khris Davis, DH

Matt Olson, 1B

Stephen Piscotty, RF

Ramon Laureano, CF

Marcus Semien, SS

Jonathan Lucroy, C

Pitcher: Liam Hendricks (0-1, 4.13 ERA)

Yankees Starting Lineup

1. Andrew McCutchen, LF

2. Aaron Judge, RF

3. Aaron Hicks, CF

4. Giancarlo Stanton, DH

5. Luke Voit, 1B

6. Didi Gregorius, SS

7. Miguel Andujar, 3B

8. Gary Sanchez, C

9. Gleyber Torres, 2B

Pitcher: Luis Severino (19-8, 3.38 ERA)

Yankees vs. Athletics Top Story Lines

The Yankees came into the season as World Series hopefuls, having added one of the scariest hitters in the majors to a team that took the eventual-champion Houston Astros to seven games in last year’s American League Championship Series.
The Athletics came into the season with extremely low expectations created by three straight fifth-place finishes in a five-team division. Oakland, despite a comical number of injuries to the team’s starting rotation, gave the Yankees a run for the top wild-card spot, finishing with 97 victories to New York’s 100. Now the team everyone expected, and the one no one expected, will face off in a winner-take-all wild-card game that will send the winner to a league division series matchup against the Boston Red Sox.
The Bronx has had its fair share of late-season heroics from unexpected sources, but Shane Spencer, Kevin Maas and even Gary Sanchez can’t make a claim quite like Luke Voit can: The first baseman, who the Yankees acquired in a midseason trade with St. Louis, hit 15 homers (14 for the Yankees) in just 143 at-bats, setting a major league record for homers in a season for batters with fewer than 150 at-bats.

Aaron Judge is in his typical No. 2 spot in the lineup, the one that modern baseball stats experts believe should be reserved for a team’s best hitter. At his best, Judge certainly qualifies, but since he returned from a fractured bone in his wrist, he has been fairly bad, hitting just .220 in 41 at-bats with a .341 slugging percentage. The Yankees will have to hope his performance against Boston on Sept. 28 — his second-to-last appearance of the season— is indicative that he is coming around. In that game he went 2 for 4 with a home run, a walk and three runs scored.

Home-field advantage was paramount for this series between two of the teams that benefited most from playing in their own parks. The Athletics were 50-31 at pitcher-friendly Oakland Coliseum, while the Yankees were even better, going 53-28 at hitter-friendly Yankee Stadium. The difference in home record is what decided which team came out on top, as both teams went 47-34 on the road.
Oakland’s infield defense was one of its strengths. Matt Chapman led the team with 29 defensive runs saved, and Matt Olson had a terrific season at first base with 14 DRS. Even Marcus Semien, the team’s shortstop who had been a below average defender in previous seasons, had 9. Combined, the team’s four typical starters in the infield (those three and Jed Lowrie) combined to save 51 runs.
By contrast, the Yankees’ four typical infield starters (Greg Bird, Gleyber Torres, Didi Gregorius and Miguel Andujar) combined for minus-31 DRS. Andujar had minus-25 and all four players were in negative numbers.
Oakland’s Blake Treinen was among the game’s most dominant relievers this season, with a 0.78 E.R.A. in 80 and one-third innings. But don’t necessarily expect him to be employed like a typical one-inning closer. He got more than three outs in 19 of his appearances, entering a game Oakland was tied in or losing 15 times.
Both teams are making somewhat atypical decisions at starting pitcher, even if neither qualifies as a surprise based on their recent history. The Yankees are starting Luis Severino, who struggled a great deal in the second half, rather than the team’s most consistent starter, J.A. Happ. The Athletics will start Liam Hendriks, a reliever who did not face more than eight batters in a game this season, rather than the team’s nominal ace, Mike Fiers.
Yankees fans undoubtedly remember Severino being pulled after just one-third of an inning in last year’s wild-card game, and while the Yankees will be hoping their All-Star starter can pitch deep into the game, Oakland will go to the bullpen quickly on purpose. Not only is Hendriks a reliever, but the team has just one starter on its roster for the game (Edwin Jackson) and he will likely be held in reserve in case the game goes to extra innings. The A’s, after several injuries to starters, borrowed the bullpen game concept from Tampa Bay and have had success with it thanks to a solid stable of relievers.
Khris Davis, the slugging designated hitter, is certainly Oakland’s most intimidating batter. He led the majors with 48 homers — his third consecutive season with 42 or more — and drove in 123 runs. But if you delve into advanced statistics, he actually trails three of his teammates (Matt Chapman, Jed Lowrie and Stephen Piscotty) in offensive wins above replacement. Chapman not only leads Davis by a wide margin in oWAR (5.0 to 3.2) but contributed 3.5 defensive WAR at third base as well. His overall score of 8.2 trailed only Mookie Betts and Mike Trout among position players.
The Yankees got power from throughout the team’s lineup this season. They had a record 12 batters hit 10 or more home runs, though none of them topped Giancarlo Stanton’s 38 despite all of the hoopla surrounding the team adding Stanton, who hit 59 homers for Miami last year, with Aaron Judge, who hit 52.

Benjamin Hoffman is a senior staff editor and regular contributor to the Keeping Score column in sports. He joined The Times in 2005. @BenHoffmanNYT • Facebook