WEST SACRAMENTO -- The last time the Yankees had an inning bigger than they did on Sunday against the Athletics at Sutter Health Park, Babe Ruth was in the lineup.
But this year’s Yanks didn’t need the Sultan of Swat in a ridiculous third inning, a 13-run frame featuring 18 batters, 11 hits and four walks that took more than 42 minutes from first pitch to final out. The highest-scoring inning by an MLB team in more than a calendar year, it powered the Yanks to a 13-8 win and a road series victory over the A’s.
Every New York starter batted twice in the half-inning, which saw the Yankees quickly erase a 3-0 deficit and relentlessly add on. The Yanks’ first 12 batters reached base on eight hits and four walks, plating 10 runs before Paul Goldschmidt was called out on strikes for the inning’s first out.
That tied the second-most runs scored by a team before recording an out in any inning in the Expansion Era (since 1961), according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Only two other teams in that span -- the Red Sox in 2009 and the Royals in 1986 -- had 12 straight batters reach to start an inning.
While the Yankees’ last 13-run frame came back in 2005 against the Rays -- they did it twice that year, both against Tampa Bay -- they haven’t had any bigger innings since the days of Ruth. Sunday’s third-inning rally came up just one run short of the franchise’s all-time record for runs in a single inning, which was 14 on July 6, 1920, against Washington. In that massive frame, Ruth was intentionally walked and later hit a two-run single, while even pitcher Carl Mays drove in a pair with a base hit.
During the Yankees’ big inning on Sunday, Ben Rice did the most damage, recording both a two-run double down the right-field line and a two-run triple to the base of the wall in right. Anthony Volpe and Cody Bellinger had two singles apiece in the inning, while former Athletic Max Schuemann walked to help set up the rally and later roped a two-run double to left field.
Notably missing from the big frame was a home run, as the Yankees became just the fifth team in the Expansion Era to score at least 13 runs in an inning without leaving the yard. They were the first team to plate 13 in any inning since May 23, 2025, when the Red Sox had a 13-run eighth against the Orioles.
The offensive outburst was potentially presaged by the ninth inning of the Yankees’ 6-4 loss on Saturday, which featured three bases-loaded walks and nearly a last-ditch comeback. After being retired in order in each of the first two innings on Sunday, the Bronx Bombers busted out in a big way.
That turned out to be rather necessary: The A’s made a game of it with five runs against the Yankees bullpen, cutting what was once a 10-run lead in half by the eighth inning.