Amed Rosario crushes two home runs to charge Yankees’ comeback win over the A’s

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 07: Amed Rosario #14 of the New York Yankees hits a two run home run in the eighth inning against the Athletics at Yankee Stadium on April 07, 2026 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) | Getty Images The life of a backup position player isn’t a fun one. Sure, you get paid a lot to spend most of the game on the bench and have relatively little blame go your way any time your team loses, but any person who’s ever played sports tells you that it’s not fun to sit on the bench.

It was for that reason that Amed Rosario decided to take less money ahead of the 2024 season to sign with the Tampa Bay Rays. The Yankees reportedly offered him a $4 million contract in their pursuit of bench depth, but Rosario took a $1. 5 million deal to get more playing time with the Rays.

A year and a half later, fate brought him to the Yankees at the Trade Deadline as a right-handed platoon bat off the bench, where he got some big at-bats but ultimately sat in the backup role he once shrugged off. After hitting free agency this offseason, he elected to accept that bench role and returned to the Yankees on a small deal to fill the same role. It would be rare that he would face a right-handed pitcher, but in the wake of Ryan McMahon’s deep slump to start the year, Aaron Boone decided to give Rosario a start against a pitcher with semi-reverse splits.

That decision may go down as one of Boone’s best-ever moves, at least on an individual game basis. Rosario blasted two home runs Tuesday night. Both against righties, both gave the Yankees the lead, and both induced emphatic celebration.