Yanks beat KC for ninth straight win
Judge homers twice, drives in tying run in 7th in New York rally
Luis Severino had a good vantage point to watch Aaron Judge send a pitch 453 feet to straightaway center field in the first inning Sunday, and the Yankees starter marveled at the nearly 400-foot homer that the slugger added in the ninth.
It was the 30-foot oopsie RBI that Judge hit in between that helped get Severino off the hook for a loss.
Along with running his homer streak to three straight games, Judge drove in the tying run in the seventh on a checked swing that trundled slowly down the first-base line, helping New York rally for a 6-4 victory over the Kansas City Royals that pushed the club’s winning streak to nine games.
Not on that groundout, though. It traveled all of 30 feet. But certainly on the two homers, which combined to travel nearly the length of three football fields. They gave Judge five in his last five games and eight this season.
“I mean, the way he cleaned that first one out, man — it’s hard to hit one more pure,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.
Clarke Schmidt (2-2) pitched a scoreless inning in relief to earn the win, then was optioned to Triple-a Scranton/wilkes-barre afterward. Aroldis Chapman left the tying run on base in the ninth to earn his sixth save on the year and 20th in a row.
The Yankees, riding the longest winning streak in the majors, improved to 16-6. It’s only the fourth time since 1959 that the 27-time World Series champions have won at least 16 of their first 22 games.
Michael Taylor homered for
Kansas City, which has lost eight of its last 10.
Orioles 9, Red Sox 5: Jordan Lyles pitched six gritty innings, Rougned Odor homered in a six-run sixth and Baltimore beat the skidding Boston Red Sox.
Cubs 2, Brewers 0: Marcus Stroman threw two-hit ball for seven innings, outpitching Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes and the Chicago Cubs beat Milwaukee.
Mariners 7, Marlins 3: Logan Gilbert kept up his run of impressive starts, Julio Rodriguez hit his first major league homer and Seattle ended Miami’s seven-game winning streak.
Rangers 7, Braves 3: Adolis Garcia highlighted a three-hit, four-rbi day with a bases-clearing triple in the third inning to help Texas beat Atlanta.
Cardinals 7, Diamondbacks 5: Harrison Bader and Nolan Arenado homered in the seventh inning to help St. Louis rally past Arizona.
Blue Jays 3, Astros 2: Santiago Espinal drove in the go-ahead run with an RBI single in the seventh inning, Bo Bichette added a two-run homer and Toronto beat Houston.
Angels 6, White Sox 5: Mike Trout homered, doubled and scored three runs, and the Halos held off the Chicago White Sox for their seventh win in eight games.
Padres 5, Pirates 2: Joe Musgrove struck out eight over seven solid innings and San Diego beat Pittsburgh.
Rockies 10, Reds 1: Kyle Freeland tossed seven strong innings for his first win of the season, and Colorado completed a series sweep of Cincinnati.
Guardians 7, Athletics 3: Triston Mckenzie threw 6 1⁄3 scoreless innings and Cleveland completed its first sweep in Oakland in 22 years.
Dodgers 6, Tigers 3: Walker Buehler pitched five scoreless innings and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat Detroit, overcoming Miguel Cabrera’s 503rd career home run and his first this season.
Nationals 11, Giants 5: Yadiel Hernandez drove in a career-high five runs with three hits as Washington beat San Francisco.
Twins 9, Rays 3: Jorge Polanco drove in four runs with a pair of doubles, Carlos Correa had his fourth straight multi-hit game and Minnesota beat the Tampa Bay Rays.