Jazz (4 RBIs), Judge (2 HRs) 'go to work' as Yanks' bats come to life

NEW YORK -- For the Yankees, 24 hours made all the difference.

A day after a silent three-hit performance, the Bombers’ bats woke up in a ferocious way on Sunday afternoon. Aaron Judge homered twice, while Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Cody Bellinger added home runs of their own as the Yankees bested old friend Luis Severino in a 12-5 victory at Yankee Stadium, taking the three-game series from the Athletics.

“That’s what it’s about,” Judge said. “Sometimes, you’re going to get beat up, sometimes things aren’t going to go your way. You just have to come out the next day and just go to work.”

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The Yankees did just that, scoring 12 runs -- their highest single-game total since a 13-run outburst on May 24. In many ways, that was a lifetime ago, predating the offensive struggles that have plagued the Yankees for much of June.

Before the game, manager Aaron Boone expressed confidence that the slumping offense would “get rolling” soon -- it just needed a big hit.

Chisholm was the first to answer the bell. He opened the scoring with a solo shot in the second inning, turning around a 96 mph fastball from Severino. Then, an inning later, he delivered the keynote: After the Yankees loaded the bases on an error, a walk and a hit by pitch, Chisholm split the right-center-field gap for a three-run triple.

“That’s why I call the guy a game-changer,” Judge said. “He can change the game on both sides of the ball.”

It was the Yankees’ first hit with a runner in scoring position since the fourth inning on Friday, delivering an early 4-0 lead.

“I’m just out there to help my team win,” Chisholm said.

Chisholm has done that as well as anyone this month: In 23 games since returning from the IL on June 3, Chisholm is hitting .318 with a .979 OPS.

“His game is so electric,” Boone added. “When he’s playing at a high level, I think it does energize everyone.”

That certainly seemed to be the case on Sunday, especially amid the backdrop of Saturday’s shutout loss.

As it turned out, the Yankees were just getting started. Judge -- serving as the DH because of a sore back -- joined the barrage with a two-run homer to left field in the fourth inning; Bellinger’s three-run shot to right-center brought the hammer down an inning later.

Then, for good measure, Judge clobbered another long ball into the visitor’s bullpen in left-center field in the seventh inning. That marked Judge’s fifth multi-homer game of the season, while his total of 30 home runs are the second most in the Majors, trailing only Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh.

As a whole, the Yankees’ lineup worked deep counts and made Severino work hard on a hot, humid day: He threw 95 pitches in just 3 2/3 innings.

“We’ve got good players,” Boone said. “So far, we’ve been a really good offense. In baseball, you’re going to have little peaks and valleys here and there. Last couple of weeks have been a little tough for us. We’ve had some stretches in there where I felt like we were close to this. … Today, we were able to get the big hit, hit a couple of balls in the seats. Now, they’re off and running.”

Marcus Stroman was the primary beneficiary. The veteran right-hander tossed five innings of one-run ball in his first start since April 11 following an IL stint with left knee inflammation. Staked to an early lead, he worked in a six-pitch mix and kept the Athletics at bay, allowing just three hits.

“This offense is special,” Stroman said. “I feel like any day, we’re capable of putting up a 10 spot. So us as starting pitchers, we’re always trying to do our job just to limit runs, because we feel like we can break out and score three, four, five runs at any point in any game.”

It hasn’t played out that way much lately, at least not consistently. But on Sunday, with Stroman’s outing mirroring the rotation’s recent success, the bats finally caught up.

“We’re not even playing our best and we’re still up here [in first place],” Chisholm said. “So you can imagine when we get back on the roll, like at the beginning of the season, how we were playing. I just can’t wait for that.”

Sunday’s beatdown was certainly a good start.