NEW YORK – Aaron Judge ended the longest home run drought of his career with a go-ahead grand slam in the seventh inning that rallied the New York Yankees past the Boston Red Sox 5-4 on Friday night.
The star slugger had gone 16 games and 75 plate appearances without a longball before launching a clutch drive into the lower left-field seats off reliever Cam Booser (2-3) for a 5-4 advantage.
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New York extended its AL East lead to three games over Baltimore, held hitless for 8 2/3 innings by four Tigers pitchers in a 1-0 loss at Detroit. It is the Yankees' largest cushion since they led by 3 1/2 games before a June 15 defeat at Boston that started a 4-14 slide.
The fading Red Sox (74-74) began the night 4 1/2 games behind Minnesota for the league's last wild card.
Mark Leiter Jr. (4-5) got four outs in relief of starter Clarke Schmidt for the win. Luke Weaver struck out five in two scoreless innings for his second career save.
Judge’s eighth career slam and second this season sent the Yankee Stadium crowd of 45,292 into a frenzy, and he came out of the dugout for a curtain call.
It was the 52nd homer of the season for Judge, who also leads the majors with 130 RBIs. He hadn’t gone deep since Aug. 25, when he homered twice against Colorado.
Judge hit nine homers in 10 games before the drought.
The 2022 AL MVP set a career worst when his homerless streak reached 16 games Thursday night against Boston.
Emergency starter Richard Fitts pitched five shutout innings for Boston after Tanner Houck was scratched less than an hour before the first pitch due to right shoulder fatigue.
Trevor Story hit a two-run shot off Leiter in the seventh that gave the Red Sox a 4-0 lead, his first home run this season after returning last weekend from a dislocated left shoulder that had sidelined him since April 6.
Masataka Yoshida snapped a scoreless tie when he connected for a two-run drive that chased Schmidt with two outs in the sixth.
Zack Kelly walked the bottom two batters in New York's lineup to start the seventh and was removed after an RBI single by Gleyber Torres. Juan Soto drew a four-pitch walk from Booser before Judge connected on a 2-0 fastball.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Red Sox: OF Rob Refsnyder (right wrist discomfort) remained out of the starting lineup, but manager Alex Cora said he hopes Refsnyder can start Sunday against left-hander Carlos Rodón. ... RHP Liam Hendriks said he still hopes to pitch for Boston this season despite a small setback in his rehabilitation from Tommy John surgery — but that will largely depend on whether they remain in the pennant race. Hendriks will receive a cortisone injection in his right elbow Monday in Boston and then be shut down for about three days before he resumes throwing.
Yankees: Manager Aaron Boone said Judge will probably be the designated hitter Saturday to give him a bit of a breather.
UP NEXT
Red Sox RHP Brayan Bello (13-7, 4.70 ERA) faces Yankees ace Gerrit Cole (6-4, 3.36) on Saturday.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb