Aaron Judge leads the Yankees to their ninth straight victory, 6-4

Sunday May 1, 2022

With Judge’s two-homer performance, the Yankees extend their winning streak to nine games.

Luis Severino had a good view of Aaron Judge‘s 453-foot homer to straightaway center field in the first inning on Sunday, and the Yankees starter marveled at the slugger’s nearly 400-foot homer in the ninth.

It was Judge’s 30-foot oopsie RBI in between that helped Severino escape with a loss.

Judge drove in the tying run in the seventh inning 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, extending the club’s winning streak to nine games.

But not on that groundout. It only travelled 30 feet. But most notably on the two home runs, which combined to travel nearly three football fields. They’ve given Judge five in his last five games and eight overall.

In the seventh inning, Josh Donaldson scored on a fielder’s choice. Clarke Schmidt (2-2) earned the win with a scoreless inning of relief before being optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Aroldis Chapman earned his sixth save of the season and 20th in a row by leaving the tying run on base in the ninth.

The Yankees improved to 16-6, riding the longest winning streak in the majors. The 27-time World Series champions have only won at least 16 of their first 22 games four times since 1959.

Michael Taylor hit a home run for Kansas City, which has now lost eight of its last ten games.

When Nicky Lopez, Whit Merrifield, and Andrew Benintendi loaded the bases in the third inning, the Royals appeared to be on their way to avoiding the sweep. After Severino’s wild pitch allowed Lopez to score from third, Carlos Santana snuck a two-out double down the right-field line to give Kansas City a 3-1 lead.

The Royals added another run in the fourth inning, thanks in part to the Yankees’ second error in as many days on third baseman DJ LeMahieu. They had gone 13 games without committing a foul before that.

To bring the Yankees within 4-3, LeMahieu and Isiah Kiner-Falefa each drove in a run, and Judge and Donaldson completed the comeback in the seventh before the tack-on homer in the ninth.

UP NEXT

The Yankees visit Toronto for a three-game set beginning Monday night with LHP Jordan Montgomery (0-1, 2.70) starting the opener.

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