OAKLAND, Calif. — When Jasson Dominguez starred in his eight-game cameo last September, the Yankees were playing for next to nothing.
This time around, the stakes are elevated, and after a quiet start, the 21-year-old outfielder may be starting to find his sea legs.
Dominguez drilled a game-tying two-run home run Sunday, his second homer of the road trip, to help the Yankees capture a 7-4 win over the A’s that finished off a sweep at the Coliseum.
“Last year, we weren’t even close to the playoffs,” Dominguez said before the Yankees flew back to New York for their final homestand of the regular season. “But this year, everything matters. Everything that you do matters. For sure it’s different. The preparation is different.”
Dominguez now has reached base safely in nine of his 11 games since being called up from Triple-A.
He had a rough road trip defensively, allowing a pair of balls he should have caught to drop during the series against the Mariners.
But he bookended the trip with his first two home runs of the season.
The one Sunday came in the second inning after the A’s had taken a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first.
“It means a lot [to contribute],” Dominguez said. “That’s what you’re trying to do — you’re trying to contribute to the team in one way or another. So it means a lot to be able to help the team in any way.”
For the second straight start, Luis Gil struggled with his command in the first inning before settling in.
He issued a pair of walks that both came around to score on a double by Tyler Soderstrom to put the Yankees in an early hole, though he was able to get through 5 ¹/₃ innings while giving up four runs.
“I felt like he never got in a great rhythm necessarily, but like always, he’s difficult to hit if he can limit the walks and be in the strike zone enough,” manager Aaron Boone said. “That first inning, the last few, it’s been a bugaboo for him.”
Gleyber Torres roped the first pitch of the game up the middle for a single and later homered in the fifth inning.
He now has reached base safely in 21 of his past 22 games and 43 of his past 45 games.
Over his past 45 games (since Aug. 2), he is batting .301 with five doubles and six home runs.
Torres led off all three games of the A’s series with a single.
Tim Hill continued to be a weapon from the left side, retiring the side on five pitches in the seventh inning. … Alex Verdugo entered the game in the eighth inning as a defensive replacement for Dominguez in left field.
