New York Yankees 9, Pittsburgh Pirates 8
NEW YORK — Aaron Judge‘s 60th home run and Giancarlo Stanton’s game-ending grand slam helped the Yankees beat the Pirates 9-8 on Tuesday.
Right-hander Wil Crowe (5-10) pitched a fast sinker to trap Judge. But the slugger drove it 430 feet into the left-field bleachers. The home run brought him within one of Roger Maris’ American League record and also ensured the New York took an 8-5 lead.
Judge hit 60 home runs, which was the same number that Babe Ruth hit for New York in 1927. This was a Major League milestone that remain unsurpassed for 37 years.
It is interesting to know that Crowe’s great, great uncle Red Ruffing, who has a place in the Hall of Fame, played in Babe Ruth’s Yankees team between 1930 and 1934.
The stunning ninth-inning rally culminated in Stanton’s grand slam and the Yankees beat the Pirates.
Stanton, who was in a 9-for-72 slump, hit a grand slam off Crowe to make Aroldis Chapman (3-3) a winner and get the crowd at Yankee Stadium going wild.
The former player’s sons, Roger Maris Jr. and Kevin Maris, were both there. Every time Judge walked up to the plate, he used a ball with a special mark on it. Excited fans in the outfield stood to see and honor the slugger, and many of the 40,157 people in the crowd groaned with each foul ball.
Bryan Reynolds hit a home run off Lou Trivino in the seventh inning to tie the game at 4-4. In the eighth, he hit a single off Jonathan Loáisiga (1-4). This was his fourth hit of the game and the last attempt to stay before the Yankees beat the Pirates.
Rodolfo Castro of the Pirates hit a three-run homer against Clay Holmes. He was suspended for a game by Major League Baseball last month for letting his cell phone fly out of his pocket while sliding headfirst.
Holmes, a second-half slumping All-Star, was pitching against his old team for the first time.
In his first game with the Yankees, Harrison Bader hit two singles that put the team ahead and drove in three runs. The already-lost Pirates scored four runs in the eighth inning after first baseman Anthony Rizzo made a crucial error.
UP NEXT
After missing time due to a lat strain from July 13 until now, New York’s Luis Severino (5-3, 3.45) will make his return to the mound on Wednesday.
Do you see Rizzo’s error as ominous for the Yankees? Can Judge reach 65 this season?
