New York Yankees 5, Boston Red Sox 4
NEW YORK — On Friday night, the New York Yankees had a spectacular 5-4 win against the Boston Red Sox. It was the fifth consecutive Yankees win and the third straight no-homer game for Aaron Judge.
Judge didn’t hit a home run, keeping him at 60 for the season and one short of Roger Maris‘ American League record.
With two outs in the eighth inning, Jose Trevino hit a single that scored the game-winning run. The Yankees win is the ninth in the last 11 games and they are now only a step away from winning the AL East.
Four of Maris’ children were back at the ballpark, and Judge hit a sharp single to go 1 for 4. He made two outs and then hit a high fly to left field that got the 47,346 people in the sold-out stadium excited for a second or two.
Following Friday’s Yankees win, the slugger has two more games at home against the rival Red Sox, on Saturday afternoon and Sunday night, to catch Maris. The team will travel to Toronto for the next series after playing Boston. The Yankees will only play three more games at home, against Baltimore from September 30 to October 2.
Judge hit his 60th home run on Tuesday night’s Yankees win over Pittsburgh. On Thursday night, he hit a 404-foot drive that was caught just in front of the center field fence. This was the closest he has come to Maris’ 1961 record.
With the win, the Yankees made it to the playoffs for the sixth year in a row, but the next night, ace pitcher Gerrit Cole and manager Aaron Boone got into a fight with plate umpire Brian Knight that got both of them thrown out of the game.
Harrison Bader, a pinch-hitter, walked with two outs in the eighth inning. When Matt Strahm (3-4) tried to pick him off, he made a mistake that let him get to third.
On the next pitch, Trevino hit a single to center raising expectations for a Yankees win.
Jonathan Loáisiga (2-3) won the game by pitching two scoreless innings, even though there were two singles with one out in the ninth inning.
In the sixth inning, Boston’s Alex Verdugo hit a three-run home run, which brought the score even. Tommy Pham went deep as well against Cole, who leads the American League with 31 long balls served up thus far in the season.
Cole threw a 100 mph fastball at Verdugo. The 26-year-old sent it to the home-team bullpen. While the Boston outfielder took a slow trot around the bases, the right-hander pitcher was seen lowering his head and bending in a sign of anguish.
Cole, a five-time All-Star, probably should have been done for the night after 103 pitches, but he pointed angrily at Knight at the end of the inning and was ejected for the first time in his career.
The Yankees win was marred by the manager’s exit. Boone got involved in the fight and was subsequently ejected for the seventh time this season and the 24th time in his managerial career.
In front of Judge, No. 9 batter Aaron Hicks hit his 100th home run in the major leagues and also drove in a run with a single. In the fifth inning, Gleyber Torres hit a two-run double off starter Rich Hill, giving New York a 4-1 lead.
Judge hit a hard single in the seventh inning, and this is the 22nd straight game in which he has reached base safely.
UP NEXT
Domingo Germán (2-3, 3.12), who has only pitched 2 2/3 innings since September 7, goes up against Nick Pivetta (10-11, 4.35 ERA) on Saturday.
Do you think the Yankees win was convincing? Were there slip-off chances?
