Aaron Judge homers for 7th time in 7 games, Yankees beat Reds 6-2
CINCINNATI (AP) — Aaron Judge hit his seventh home run in seven games and the New York Yankees beat the Cincinnati Reds 6-2 on Friday night.
Anthony Rizzo also homered for the surging Yankees, who improved to 9-3 in their last 12 games.
Judge, who received a standing ovation from the many Yankees fans in attendance following his pregame batting session, wasted little time making his presence felt in the teams’ first meeting in Cincinnati since 2017. The reigning AL MVP took the fifth pitch he saw from Reds starter Ben Lively (1-2) 431 feet to center field for his 13th home run of the season.
It was Judge’s only hit of the night, but he has homered in five of the last seven games — including hitting two in two games during that stretch.
With New York still leading 1-0 lead before the bottom half of the fifth inning, all four umpires administered a foreign substance check on Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt (2-4). The umpires allowed Schmidt to stay on the mound after he appeared to clean off his glove hand.
But Reds manager David Bell was ejected while disputing the umpires’ several areas already, may need to be fixed once stock cars begin turning all those laps.
But right now drivers say they’re eager to give it a spin.
“It’s going to be electric,” said Austin Dillon, driver of the No. 3 Chevrolet. “This may be the best experience of the year for our sport. It’s something different, and I personally love the nostalgia associated with the track. I’m sure everybody is excited to see how the racing turns out and I think it will be great. It will be a blast from the past.” decision to allow Schmidt to continue his scoreless outing. Cincinnati had just three hits off Schmidt at that point.
Yankees pitcher Domingo Germán was suspended for 10 games Wednesday by Major League Baseball and fined for violating the sport’s prohibition of foreign substances on the mound.
RAYS 1, BREWERS 0
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Francisco Mejía had an eighthinning sacrifice fly and major league-leading Tampa Bay beat Milwaukee.
Luke Raley was hit by a pitch from Peter Strzelecki (2-3) leading off the eighth. Raley
Smith said he hopes fans feel like they’re stepping back in time.
“We are in the memory business,” Smith said. “Hopefully fans feel like they have stepped into a piece of history and they can enjoy that while they’re here.”
Earnhardt can’t wait to hear the roar of the NextGen car engines Sunday night accelerate toward the start/finish line Sunday night.
“It will be pretty emotional,” said Earnhardt, whose father Dale Sr. won five Cup races at the track. “I think that is when it will all sink stole second, went to third on catcher William Contreras’ throwing error and came home on Mejía’s fly to left.
Jason Adam (1-1) struck out Willy Adames to end the eighth with Owen Miller on third. Peter Fairbanks worked the ninth for his fourth save, stranding a runner at third. Tampa Bay (33-13), coming off a 4-6 trip, improved to 20-3 at home.
Rays ace Shane McClanahan failed in his bid to become the majors’ first eight-game winner despite seven shutout innings. He had seven strikeouts and dropped his ERA from 2.34 to 2.05. in, like this is actually happening — this track, one that was long forgotten by the industry, will be brought back to life.”
What happens to North Wilkesboro Speedway beyond this weekend remains uncertain. There are no future Cup Series races on the docket.
Earnhardt hopes this weekend changes all of that.
“If we leave there on Sunday and everyone is saying, ‘I hope we get to come back someday,’ then we’ve done a good thing,” Earnhardt said.