With Aaron Judge stuck in a 16-game home run streak, the longest of his career, Nestor Cortes was asked about his teammate’s power outage Thursday.
The pitcher didn’t seem very worried.
“There haven’t been any home runs yet, but I know they’re going to come back,” Cortes said. “He’s a big kid.”
It didn’t take long for Cortes to be proven right, as Judge finally pitched his major league-leading 52.nd The slugger hit the best home run of the season in the Yankees’ 5-4 win over the Red Sox on Friday. He did it in a big way, hitting a blast to left field with the bases loaded in the seventh inning.
Cam Booser’s 369-foot launch inspired “MVP” chants from the Yankee Stadium crowd, which later received an encore from Judge.
Aaron Judge gets the Yankee Stadium crowd excited! pic.twitter.com/6Ll7ZEiTlD
— MLB (@MLB) September 14, 2024
The Yankees had already crossed the plate in the seventh on a single by Gleyber Torres, but runs had been harder to come by earlier in the evening.
That’s because former Yankees prospect Richard Fitts, traded to Boston in the Alex Verdugo deal, pitched five scoreless innings while allowing just two hits. Fitts, selected by the Yankees in the sixth round of the 2021 draft, was given a last-minute start after Tanner Houck was scratched with a shoulder strain.
Meanwhile, Clarke Schmidt pitched 5.2 innings, five hits, two earned runs, one walk, five strikeouts and 86 pitches in his second start back from a back injury. His final pitch proved to be his worst, with Masataka Yoshida hitting a two-run home run in the sixth inning.
Boston scored two more runs in the seventh inning when Trevor Story hit his first home run of the season. That masterstroke came off Mark Leiter Jr., who has now allowed earned runs in nine of his 17 appearances since joining the Cubs.
Fortunately for Leiter and the Yankees, Judge found his power at the perfect time. He was in a slump heading into Friday’s game, batting .207/.352/.259 with four RBIs during his home run drought. But he went 2-for-3 with a walk Friday while hitting the eighth grand slam of his career.
With another comeback win after two overtime victories, the Yankees are now 86-62. They are also three games ahead of the Orioles in the American League East.
The Yankees will look to win a series with Gerrit Cole starting Saturday. Brayan Bellow is expected to start for Boston.
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