Judge, Grisham fire up Yankees in 7 HR, 26-hit battle to beat Angels 11-10

THE BRONX, N.Y. —Nobody in that Yankee Stadium crowd of 35,789 on Monday night had any idea whether to cheer, groan, or simply hold their breath. The Yankees and Angels traded punches all evening in a game that changed hands four times, featured five home runs from one team alone and threatened to spiral completely off the rails.

The end result? An 11-10 Yankees victory, a five-game losing streak snapped, and two names doing the heavy lifting that the Bombers have desperately needed all young season: Aaron Judge and Trent Grisham.

Shaky start for the bullpen, bright start for the bats

The Yankees had reason for cautious optimism from the opening at-bat. Paul Goldschmidt led off the bottom of the first by crushing an RBI double off Angels left-hander Yusei Kikuchi. Two batters later, Judge — who entered the game hitting .218 with a team-high 19 strikeouts — jumped on a 2-0 changeup that Kikuchi left up in the zone and launched it 456 feet into the left-field bleachers at Yankee Stadium. The two-run shot left the bat at 116.2 mph, the hardest-hit home run in the majors so far this season and the fourth-longest in baseball.

In the second inning, Randal Grichuk drew a walk, and Jose Caballero followed with a home run to left, pushing the Yankees lead to 4-0. The early cushion looked comfortable. It did not stay that way.

A Caballero fielding error opened the fourth inning, and the Angels made New York pay. Jorge Soler doubled home Mike Trout, Jo Adell drove in a run with a single, and Logan O’Hoppe added another. Fernando Cruz, entering in relief of Will Warren, immediately walked two batters, forcing home the fourth run. A 4-0 lead became a 4-4 tie in what felt like a single breath.

Grisham wakes up — then wakes the stadium up twice

The Yankees needed someone to answer, and it was an unlikely name who stepped forward first. With the score knotted in the fifth, manager Aaron Boone called on Trent Grisham to pinch-hit for Grichuk. Grisham, who came into the game batting .133 with zero home runs, delivered a three-run blast to right-center off reliever Shaun Anderson, his first homer of 2026. New York was back ahead 7-4.

Three-time MVP Mike Trout had a different idea. In the top of the sixth, Trout launched a three-run homer off Jake Bird to level the score at 7-7 and quiet the crowd in the Bronx. Moments later, Judge made sure his own night was not finished: he drove Anderson’s offering 398 feet into the seats for a solo shot, his second home run of the game, restoring the Yankees’ advantage at 8-7.

The back-and-forth did not stop there. Josh Lowe lifted a sacrifice fly off Bird in the seventh to tie it at eight, then Trout delivered the gut punch in the eighth — a two-run homer off Camilo Doval — giving the Angels a 10-8 edge heading to the final frame.

The ninth inning delivers the knockout

Against Angels closer Jordan Romano, the Yankees were facing the prospect of a sixth straight loss. The sellout crowd had seen this story too many times in the previous week. But Grisham refused to let it end that way. Leading off the ninth, he launched a two-run homer to right-center off Romano, tying the game at 10 and triggering the loudest roar of the evening.

Caballero kept the rally alive, ripping a double and then stealing third base. Austin Wells drew a walk. With Ryan McMahon at the plate, Romano’s pitch hit the dirt, catcher O’Hoppe could not corral it, and Caballero darted home. Walk-off win. Yankees 11, Angels 10.

The victory moved New York to 9-7 on the season, alone atop the American League East.

Judge passes Mantle with historic multi-homer night

Judge’s two-homer performance carried far more than box-score weight. The night marked his 47th career multi-homer game, moving him past Mickey Mantle for second place on the Yankees’ all-time list. Only Babe Ruth, with 68 such games, stands ahead of him. Judge’s first-inning blast also gave him 28 home runs of at least 455 feet in the Statcast era (including playoffs), second only to teammate Giancarlo Stanton’s 30.

For Judge, the night had an added edge. In the fourth inning, Anderson threw a fastball near his head, drawing a hard stare from the Yankees captain. Two innings later, Anderson buzzed him again under the chin. Two pitches after that confrontation, Judge deposited a changeup into the second deck. The message was unmistakable.

Before the game, Judge had preached simplicity after the Rays sweep: the Yankees needed to stop pressing, shorten counts, and trust their ability. The roster responded. New York finished with 14 hits, five home runs, and 11 runs after scoring a combined 13 over the previous five games.

Warren solid; bullpen allows six

Starter Will Warren gave the Yankees 3.2 innings with six strikeouts, allowing three hits and four runs, all unearned, due to the Caballero error. Tim Hill, Jake Bird, and Camilo Doval combined for six earned runs in relief. Preston Blackburn, however, pitched a clean ninth to earn the win.

The Yankees will send Ryan Weathers to the mound on Tuesday for Game 2 against the Angels. Weathers arrives off an eight-inning gem and will face Reid Detmers, another left-hander, for Los Angeles.

Angels batting

Yankees batting

Angels pitching

Yankees pitching

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