Aaron Judge's single in ninth gives Yankees their 12th straight win

OAKLAND, Calif. — A cross-country trip and day off did nothing to cool off the Yankees.

A rare clunker by Jameson Taillon nearly did the trick, but they overcame that, too.

On a night the righthander didn’t have anything close to his best stuff — which contributed to the team losing an early six-run lead — the legs of Tyler Wade and a key hit by Aaron Judge allowed the Yankees to beat the A’s, 7-6, for their 12th victory in a row in front of 8,147 at Oakland Coliseum.

"Right now, everything’s clicking," Judge said.

It was the 11th time in franchise history that the Yankees have won 12 in a row and the first time since a 13-game streak from Sept. 1-Sept. 12, 1961.

The Yankees (75-52), who have won 24 of their last 29 games and 34 of their last 45, moved within four games of the AL East-leading Rays. They remained three games ahead of the Red Sox for the top wild-card spot and moved 5 1⁄2 games ahead of Oakland. They are 48-23 in games decided by one or two runs.

"They play with a lot of confidence in these close games," Aaron Boone said. "I think the more you play in them, the more confidence you get. These guys are really good at competing, especially when the game’s in the balance."

With two outs in the ninth, Wade, pinch running for Anthony Rizzo after he drew a walk off Lou Trivino, stole second and went to third on Sean Murphy’s high throw into center. Judge then dumped an RBI single to right to make it 7-6.

Judge also doubled in the eighth inning but was stranded as the Yankees couldn’t take advantage of a bases-loaded, one-out situation.

Aroldis Chapman, coming off a shaky outing Tuesday in Atlanta in which Wandy Peralta had to bail him out of a bases-loaded mess, allowed a two-out infield single by Starling Marte in the ninth. Marte stole second, making him 18-for-18 in steals since joining the A’s, but Chapman got dangerous Matt Olson to ground to second for his 24th save in 28 chances (and the 300th save of his career).

Boone wasn’t around to see much of the game. Irritated about the strike zone of plate umpire Todd Tichenor, he was ejected for the fifth time this season after Joey Gallo was called out on a 3-and-2 breaking ball that appeared to be well outside in the second inning. After being ejected, an infuriated Boone sprinted to the plate to yell at Tichenor face-to-face for a minute or two.

"It fires you up," Gallo said. "I respect Boonie for doing that. You can tell he wants to win just as bad as we do."

Gallo hit his 30th homer, a three-run blast, and Giancarlo Stanton and Brett Gardner hit solo shots as the Yankees took a 6-0 lead in the top of the third.

The A’s (70-58), who have lost five straight as they’ve steadily dropped in the wild-card standings, got solo homers from Matt Chapman, Murphy and Josh Harrison and a two-run single by Elvis Andrus. Chapman and Murphy went back-to-back in the third, hitting 431- and 433-foot shots, and the A's tied the score at 6-6 on Harrison’s homer off Albert Abreu in the fifth.

Taillon, who came in 7-0 with a 2.57 ERA in his previous 12 starts — allowing three earned runs or fewer in 11 of those starts — had his worst outing since June 29. He allowed five runs and four hits in 3 2⁄3 innings Thursday night.

"The theme of the night is I have to be better with two strikes," said Taillon, who allowed both homers and a two-out, two-run single in the fourth on two-strike pitches.

He had been spotted a 6-0 lead on Gallo’s three-run blast in the top of the third. Rizzo had an RBI double before Gallo's 419-foot shot made him 5-for-9 with four home runs and six RBIs against James Kaprielian.

Kaprielian, a highly regarded prospect with the Yankees who could never stay healthy and eventually was part of the package they sent to Oakland in exchange for Sonny Gray before the 2017 trade deadline, struck out the side in a 12-pitch first, but he peaked there. The righthander, who came in 7-4 with a 3.25 ERA, allowed six runs and six hits in five innings.

The way the first inning ended — Judge taking a called third strike that appeared out of the zone — greased the skids for what happened in the second.

Gallo chirped a bit at Tichenor after the called third strike, as did the Yankees’ dugout, Boone included. A few seconds later, before Stanton stepped in, Boone was thrown out and quickly sprinted from the dugout to yell face-to-face at Tichenor for a minute or two before departing.

"That fired up the team, fired up the boys," Judge said. "Boonie picked us up."

Stanton gave the Yankees the lead, blasting a full-count fastball off one of the loges overhanging centerfield, an area of this ballpark that seldom sees baseballs. Stanton’s 436-foot shot, his fifth homer in the last eight games and his 23rd overall, extended his on-base streak to 22 games. One out later, Gardner made it 2-0, hammering his sixth homer.

"It’s very confident," Gallo said of the clubhouse vibe. "Every game we feel like we’re going to win. It’s nice to be a part of a clubhouse like that."

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.