Tampa — The New York Yankees delivered a thunderous statement Tuesday night, tying their franchise record with nine home runs in a 13-3 dismantling of the Tampa Bay Rays at George M. Steinbrenner Field. The win lifted the Yankees to the top of the American League Wild Card standings and pushed the Boston Red Sox out of postseason position.
The offensive explosion marked the second time this season that the Yankees have hit nine home runs in a game, making them the first team in Major League Baseball history to record multiple nine-homer games in one season.
Judge, Bellinger and Stanton go back-to-back-to-back
After a weather delay of nearly two hours, the Yankees wasted no time unloading on Tampa Bay starter Shane Baz. With one out in the first inning, Aaron Judge blasted his 40th home run of the year, a 429-foot shot to center. Cody Bellinger and Giancarlo Stanton followed with homers of their own on the next two pitches, giving New York a 3-0 lead just minutes into the game.
It was the third time this season that the Yankees hit three consecutive home runs in the first inning. Judge has been involved in all three. The other two came on March 29 against Milwaukee and April 29 against Baltimore.
Judge’s latest milestone puts him in exclusive company. He joins Babe Ruth (11), Lou Gehrig (5), and Mickey Mantle (4) as the only Yankees with four 40-homer seasons.
Caballero exacts revenge with two blasts
Jose Caballero, traded from Tampa Bay to New York at the deadline, launched his first home run as a Yankee in the second inning, moments after a tribute video played in his honor. He wasn’t done. His second homer came in the ninth and tied the Yankees’ single-game record.
Caballero finished with two home runs and three RBIs against his former team.
“Hanging out with those guys, something has to be contagious,” Caballero said, smiling as he credited teammates Judge and Stanton. “That’s why they are the Bronx Bombers.”
Stanton and Bellinger keep slugging
Stanton and Bellinger also homered twice. Stanton followed Caballero’s second-inning shot with a three-run homer in the fourth. Bellinger added his second blast in the sixth, a two-run drive to right.
Ben Rice hit his fourth-inning solo shot immediately after Stanton’s, pushing the total to seven. Jazz Chisholm Jr. added a solo homer in the third, giving the Yankees home runs in five of the first six innings.
Stanton now has 14 home runs in his last 33 games. Tuesday marked the 55th time he and Judge have homered in the same game. The Yankees are 48-7 in those contests.
“That’s really fun. Judgey really started it off there,” Bellinger said. “We’ve got a really good offense. The ebbs and flows of a 162-game season — it’s not always going to be pretty — but we believe in each other.”
Historic numbers mount
The Yankees’ nine home runs traveled a combined 3,419 feet. All came off actual pitchers — Baz, Ian Seymour and Mason Montgomery — with no position players used in relief.
Manager Aaron Boone was stunned after the game when told of the total.
“We hit nine? Wow,” Boone said. “To do it twice, that’s remarkable. And there were some that were seriously hit, too. Just a really impressive offensive showing against a team that’s not always easy to score runs against.”
Bellinger, Stanton, and Caballero became just the second trio of Yankees to hit multiple home runs in the same game. The last time it happened was in 1961, when Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, and Moose Skowron did it against the Red Sox.
The Yankees now lead the majors in total home runs with 204, well ahead of the Dodgers.
Yankees leap Red Sox in Wild Card race
With the win, the Yankees improved to 68-57 and moved into sole possession of the top American League Wild Card spot. The Red Sox and Mariners both lost Tuesday, dropping them one game behind New York in the standings.
The Yankees also claimed second place in the AL East, five games behind the division-leading Toronto Blue Jays. The win marked the Yankees’ fourth straight victory and sixth in their last seven games. They moved into second place in the division.
Bellinger, who played all three outfield positions during Tuesday’s win, joked about falling just shy of the all-time single-game home run record of 10, set by the Blue Jays in 1987.
“We’ve gotta pick it up,” he said.
The Yankees will attempt to complete a two-game sweep of the Rays on Wednesday before returning home to face the Red Sox in a four-game series starting Thursday. The upcoming matchup with Boston could prove crucial in determining the wild card race.
With 37 games remaining in the regular season, the Yankees’ recent surge has dramatically altered the playoff picture. Their power-heavy approach continues to produce results as they chase their first postseason appearance since 2022.
The team leads the majors with 204 home runs this season, 17 more than the second-place Dodgers. Tuesday’s display served as a reminder of why they earned the “Bronx Bombers” nickname decades ago.
What do you think? Leave your comment below.
