Aaron Judge ended his longest home run drought with a game-changing grand slam in the seventh inning, leading the New York Yankees to a 5-4 win over the Boston Red Sox on Friday night.
Judge had been without a home run for 16 games and 75 plate appearances before hitting a crucial shot into the lower left-field seats off reliever Cam Booser (2-3), giving the Yankees a 5-4 lead.
This victory marked the Yankees’ third straight win, expanding their AL East lead to three games over Baltimore, which lost 1-0 to Detroit after being held hitless for 8 2/3 innings. This is the Yankees’ biggest lead since they were ahead by 3 1/2 games before a June 15 loss to Boston that triggered a 4-14 slump.
“Hopefully nobody’s looking at the standings,” Judge said. “I’m certainly not.”
The Red Sox (74-74) are now 4 1/2 games behind Minnesota for the final wild card spot in the league.
Mark Leiter Jr. (4-5) got four outs in relief of starter Clarke Schmidt for the win, while Luke Weaver struck out five in two scoreless innings to earn his second career save.
“Just got to keep it rolling,” Judge said. “Everybody’s doing their job.”
Judge’s grand slam, his eighth career slam and second of the season, set off a wild celebration among the 45,292 fans at Yankee Stadium and the New York players in the dugout. The 6-foot-7 captain even came out for a curtain call.
“Tonight was rocking, especially in that seventh inning,” Judge said. “Kind of felt like a playoff atmosphere there in the seventh inning as we were kind of rallying. So, we’ve been waiting for that, that’s for sure.”
Aaron Judge hit his 52nd home run of the season, leading the majors with 130 RBIs. He hadn’t hit a home run since August 25, when he hit two against Colorado.
Before this stretch, Judge had nine homers in 10 games.
His 16-game homerless streak was his longest, reaching a career low on Thursday night against Boston.
Boston’s emergency starter Richard Fitts threw five scoreless innings after Tanner Houck was scratched less than an hour before the game due to right shoulder fatigue.
“I think the team did everything they needed to do,” Booser said. “I think this is solely on me. Didn’t do my job.”
Masataka Yoshida broke the scoreless tie with a two-run homer in the sixth inning, sending Schmidt off the mound with two outs.
Trevor Story added a two-run homer off Leiter in the seventh, giving Boston a 4-0 lead. It was Story’s first home run this season after returning last weekend from a dislocated left shoulder that had kept him out since April 6.
“It’s a tough one. No getting around it,” Story said. “Tough game. That kind of stuff can happen in the big leagues.”
Zack Kelly walked the last two batters in New York’s lineup starting the seventh and was replaced after Gleyber Torres hit an RBI single. Juan Soto then walked on four pitches from Booser before Judge hit a 2-0 fastball for a grand slam.
“I think this probably might be my most memorable win of my career so far here. I think just the magnitude of that homer,” Schmidt said. Schmidt made his second start since recovering from a strained right lat muscle.
“It was like everything clicked. It was a perfect moment. Just really special. The whole team’s kind of a part of it.”
