Judge’s 6 RBIs leads Yankees past Royals
NEW YORK — Aaron Judge became the first big leaguer with 40 homers this season, smashed a grand slam for No. 41 and robbed a home run in right field as the New York Yankees rallied to beat the Kansas City Royals 11-5 Friday night.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa lined a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning as New York completed its major league-leading 29th comeback victory.
Judge was lavished with “MVP!” chants throughout the night, none louder than after his slam in the eighth cemented yet another Yankees rally. He also had a single and finished with six RBIs.
Judge and Anthony Rizzo homered early on a rainy night in the Bronx, but Kansas City came back against Gerrit Cole, with Whit Merrifield’s two-run single in the fifth ending a scoreless drought of 31⅔ innings for the Royals.
Salvador Perez followed Merrifield with a go-ahead, three-run homer in his return from the injured list.
New York erased its deficit by batting around during a messy eighth inning that followed a 23-minute rain delay. Albert Abreu (2-0) pitched a scoreless eighth against a Kansas City team that waived him June 21. Scott Barlow (4-4) took the loss.
ASTROS 11, MARINERS 1
In Houston, Justin Verlander pitched one-run ball into the eighth inning and won his MLB-leading 14th game, Aledmys Díaz hit two homers and Yordan Alvarez slugged his 30th home run of the season as the Astros routed Seattle.
Verlander (14-3) allowed one run in 7⅔ innings with five hits and five strikeouts and outdueled Seattle’s Robbie Ray, last year’s AL Cy Young Award winner. He held Seattle scoreless until Jesse Winker and Julio Rodríguez doubled in the seventh inning.
Also Friday, the Mariners made a move to strengthen their pitching, acquiring the top starting pitcher on the trade market, getting All-Star Luis Castillo from the payroll-paring Cincinnati Reds for four minor league prospects.
The Astros chased Ray (8-8) by scoring three runs in the third inning.
METS 6, MARLINS 4
In Miami, Starling Marte homered, tripled and drove in three runs, Brandon Nimmo broke an eighth-inning tie with a two-run shot as New York overcame two early deficits to defeat Miami and run its winning streak to four games.
Nimmo finished with three RBIs and Marte was a double short of the cycle for the NL East leaders.
Pinch-hitter Eduardo Escobar reached on an infield single leading off the eighth against reliever Steven Okert (5-1) and advanced on Tomás Nido’s sacrifice bunt. Nimmo then drove an 0-1 pitch from Okert over the wall in right-center.
Daniel Vogelbach doubled twice for the Mets, who had eight extra-base hits — six against Marlins All-Star starter Sandy Alcantara. Adam Ottavino (5-2) pitched a scoreless seventh and Edwin Díaz converted his 23rd save.
ORIOLES 6, REDS 2
In Cincinnati, Cedric Mullins hit a tiebreaking, two-run single in a four-run ninth inning, and Baltimore beat the Reds to move two games over .500 for the first time since April 2021.
Dillon Tate (2-3) earned the victory for Baltimore, which had not been two games over since it was 4-2 last year. The Orioles, at 37-25 following a 14-24 start, is 16-7 in July, assured of consecutive winning months for the first times since May and June 2016.
Ramón Urías walked against Buck Farmer (0-1) leading off the ninth, Rougned Oder doubled and Mullins grounded a first-pitch changeup up the middle and into center field for a 4-2 lead. Trey Mancini followed with an RBI single.
BRAVES 5, DIAMONDBACKS 2
In Atlanta, Austin Riley had a homer and three RBIs, Kyle Wright earned his NL-leading 13th victory and Atlanta topped Arizona.
Riley homered in the first and drove in runs with doubles in the third and fifth. Wright has won five straight decisions and gave up five hits and two runs with two walks and five strikeouts in 6⅔ innings.
Geraldo Perdomo hit his third homer and Madison Bumgarner (6-10) took the loss, surrendering eight hits and five runs — four earned — in six innings.
CARDINALS 6, NATIONALS 2
In Washington, Nolan Gorman and Lars Nootbaar hit back-to-back homers in the sixth inning as St. Louis beat the Nationals and won consecutive games for the first time since July 15-16.
Washington’s Juan Soto went 1 for 4 in what could be his final homestand with Tuesday’s trade deadline looming. The Nationals were 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position.
Miles Mikolas (8-8) allowed two runs in seven innings, giving up six hits and a walk while striking out four for St. Louis.
Aníbal Sánchez (0-3) lost his third consecutive start for Washington, which has a majors-worst record of 34-67.
PHILLIES 4, PIRATES 2, 10 INNINGS
In Pittsburgh, Rhys Hoskins drilled a go-ahead two-run homer in the top of the 10th to lift Philadelphia past the Pirates.
Hoskins finished off a four-hit night by taking the third pitch he saw from Duane Underwood Jr. (0-3) and sending it to the grassy area beyond the center field wall for his 20th home run of the season to give the Phillies their third straight victory.
Nick Castellanos, Alec Bohm and Matt Vierling had two hits apiece for Philadelphia. Seranthony Dominguez (5-3) retired the Pirates in order to force extra innings and Connor Brogdon worked a perfect bottom of the 10th to pick up his first career save.
GUARDIANS 4, RAYS 1
In St. Petersburg, Fla., José Ramirez hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the fifth, Shane Bieber struck out eight in seven innings and Cleveland beat Tampa Bay.
Ramirez’s 21st homer, a drive off Jeffrey Springs (3-3), gave Cleveland a
3-1 lead. Ramirez added a two-out RBI single in the eighth after Steven Kwan’s third single. Bieber (5-6) needed 26 pitches in the first, when Ji-Man Choi hit a run-scoring single. He gave up one runs and five hits. Emmanuel Clase pitched the ninth for his 22nd save in 24 chances.
TIGERS 4, BLUE JAYS 2
In Toronto, Willi Castro homered for the second time in two games, Victor Reyes had three hits, and Detroit beat the Blue Jays.
Javier Báez reached base three times, Harold Castro hit a two-run single and Riley Greene scored twice for the Tigers, who came in having lost five of eight since the All-Star break.
The Blue Jays lost All-Star right-hander Alek Manoah in the sixth inning after he was hit on the right elbow by Jonathan Schoop’s comebacker. The team said X-rays revealed no fracture.
Matt Chapman homered for the third time in two games, but Toronto managed only four hits against six Tigers pitchers.
Will Vest (3-2) worked 1⅓ innings and Gregory Soto finished for his 19th save in 22 chances.
BREWERS 4, RED SOX 1
In Boston, Christian Yelich drove in the go-ahead run with a single in the seventh inning, Brandon Woodruff struck out nine and Milwaukee won in its return to Boston for the first time in eight years.
Andrew McCutchen had a run-scoring fielder’s choice and Tyrone Taylor added a sacrifice fly in the ninth.
The game was scoreless until the sixth when the Brewers finally got to rookie Brayan Bello (0-3).
Woodruff (9-3) went 6 ⅓ innings, allowing one run and four hits and two walks. Josh Hader struck out three in the ninth to pick up his 29th save.
ATHLETICS 7, WHITE SOX 3
In Chicago, Seth Brown hit two solo homers, Stephen Piscotty hit a three-run shot, and James Kapriellian pitched six strong innings as Oakland topped the White Sox for its season-high fourth straight win.
Elvis Andrus also homered for Oakland, which improved to 7-2 since the All-Star break. Josh Harrison had a two-run shot for Chicago, which lost its second straight to fall below .500 (49-50).
Lance Lynn (1-4) went 5⅔ innings and allowed five runs on six hits. He struck out eight and walked none.