Giancarlo Stanton hit a three-run home run after Aaron Judge was intentionally walked in the fifth inning, Juan Soto homered twice, and Judge hit his MLB-leading 42nd home run as the New York Yankees held on for an 8-7 win over the Texas Rangers on Sunday.
Judge reached base four times, marking the 41st time this season he’s reached base at least three times. He had two singles and a home run, his first since August 3 when Toronto walked him with two outs and nobody on base after his 41st homer.
With this win, the Yankees are back in a tie for first place with the Baltimore Orioles.
Stanton, who was playing his ninth game since missing 28 games due to a hamstring injury, tied his season high with four RBIs. He homered in consecutive games for the first time since June 11-12 and reached 20 homers for the 13th time in his first 15 seasons.
Stanton fell to one knee and hit a 2-2 slider from Jose LeClerc into the left field seats, making him the 17th player in baseball history to hit 20 homers in 13 of his first 15 seasons. He is also the third player to have 13 20-homer seasons since 2010.
Stanton’s home run came after Judge was intentionally walked for the sixth time in the last eight games and the 13th time overall.
“It’s part of the game,” Stanton said. “He’s an all-time talent. So that happens. I got to do what happened today in order for it not to happen. It’s part of the game. You have some fun with it.”
Judge agreed.
“I get on base and hopefully the guys behind me do their thing and today it worked out,” he said.
Soto hit a solo homer off Texas starter Andrew Heaney (4-12) in the third inning and homered again in the seventh off Andrew Chafin. Soto reached 30 homers for the third time in his career.
The Yankees won for the 10th time in their last 14 games and improved to 13-17 in games started by left-handed pitchers this season. It was Soto’s fifth multihomer game of the season and the 22nd of his career.
Judge followed Soto’s home run with his 299th career homer, marking the third time this season that the powerful trio of Judge, Soto, and Stanton all homered in the same game. Their home runs traveled a total of 1,598 feet.
“I think whenever we get homers, it’s all great for the team,” Soto said.
Marcus Stroman (8-6) pitched on eight days’ rest and gave up one run and four hits in five-plus innings, earning his first win since June 22, the same game when Stanton got injured. Stroman had been 0-3 with a 7.56 ERA in his last six starts.
Stroman had a shutout until the sixth inning when Corey Seager doubled. He was replaced by Jake Cousins, who struck out three batters. Tommy Kahnle then retired Josh Jung with two on base after a two-run fielding error by third baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. in the seventh inning, just before Soto and Judge hit their home runs.
The Yankees needed Soto’s and Judge’s home runs in the seventh because Mark Leiter Jr. gave up a solo home run to Nathaniel Lowe and a two-run shot to Carson Kelly in the eighth inning.
Clay Holmes gave up an RBI single to Adolis García but left two runners stranded to get his 25th save in 35 attempts.
“I knew it was a matter of digging deep and making pitches to get out of that,” Holmes said after throwing 45 pitches.
Heaney allowed four runs (three earned) and five hits in 4 2/3 innings. Texas lost for the 11th time in 15 games since getting to within a game of .500 on July 25.
“We couldn’t stop them,” Texas manager Bruce Bochy said. “They kept adding on but we kept adding on. We had the winning run on, that’s what makes it tough.”
