ALL RISE FOR 2 HOMERS!!
Judge blasts a pair of HRs as Yankees win in 11 for sixth straight win over Rays
TAMPA — Aaron Judge is not about to let up. The Yankees slugger set a goal this winter to win the division and set up a long playoff run. Judge is not about to take a breath just halfway there. Friday night, Judge started the Yankees off with a homer in the first inning and then re- started them with another in the 11th as the Bombers beat the Rays 8-4 at Tropicana Field.
The Yankees (57-29) have now won six straight against the Rays (50-39), improving to
a season-high 28-games over .500. It was their 11th straight win over a division opponent, increasing their lead over Tampa Bay to 8.5 games in the American League East. The Yankees are 9-2 against the Rays this season and have secured at least a split of this series.
It was the second straight night that the Yankees rallied in extra-innings to beat the Rays, for their 27th come-from-behind win of the season, second only to the Dodgers.
It’s not enough for Judge though.
“Not until it’s October and we’ve won the division,” Judge said when asked if the lead over their closest division opponent was significant heading into next week’s AllStar break. “Teams can comeback. We’ve got to finish. Keep pounding away and get ready for tomorrow.”
Friday, the Yankees kept pounding.
Judge hammered the first pitch Ryne Stanek threw in the top of the 11th. The laser shot went 442 feet over the center-field fence. He had also hit an opposite field homer off Rays lefty starter Brendan McKay in the first. It was his ninth career, multi-home run game and the second of the season. Judge also hit two in the Yankees win over the Orioles on April 6.
Aaron Hicks’ third career pinch-hit home run in the top of the eighth tied the game at 4-4. Hicks, who was out of the starting lineup Friday due to a preemptive day of rest, last hit a pinch- hit home run in Sept. 2017 against the Rays.
Even after Judge’s laser to center field gave the Yankees the lead, they never stopped pushing.
Brett Gardner smacked a three-run, line-drive homer to center field to ice the Yankees’ 11th straight win over an AL East opponent.
“Judgey went up there obviously real aggressive and jumped on the first pitch, went superhero on us,” Aaron Boone said of his team’s attack of Stanek. “Then Gardy to get into a really good count and just sell out on the heater and finish it off.”
The Yankees have now homered in 34 of their last 35 games and in 76 of their 86 games this season.
The Yankees have overcome an MLB-leading injury epidemic — they still have an MLB-leading 13 players on the IL and have had 22 go on the IL at some point this season. They are also coming off an awkward week, where they had three days off over five, flew nearly 7,000 miles to London and back and played in weird conditions at London Stadium.
But in that span the Yankees have managed to go 4-1.
Friday night, the Yankees didn’t get their best start from Masahiro Tanaka, who still remains unbeaten by the Rays this season. He allowed four runs on six hits. He walked two and struck out five.
It was the third time this season Tanaka had allowed two home runs in a game.
Tanaka gave up a leadoff home run to rookie Nate Lowe to lead off the fourth inning. His first career home run tied the game at 1-1. Mike Zunino led off the fifth with a homer to cut the Yankees lead to 3-2.
Tanaka left in the seventh with one out and two on. He gave up a double to Michael Brosseau and walked Zunino. Nestor Cortes Jr. hit Austin Meadows with a pitch and after getting Tommy Pham out swinging, Kevin Kiermaier singled in two runs that were charged to Tanaka to take the lead.
With a limited bullpen, Cortes gave the Yankees 1.2 innings work and David Hale gave them 2.1 scoreless innings to give them a chance to rally.