September 14 – Aaron Judge hits a highlight-reel grand slam in the seventh inning to end his career-high 16-game home run drought and give the host New York Yankees a 5–4 win Friday night over the Boston Red Sox.
Judge lifted a 2-0 fastball from Cam Boozer (2-3) into the left-field seats for his 52nd MLB home run as the Yankees took a 5–4 lead. It was Judge’s first home run since Aug. 25 when he hit two home runs. He led the majors with 130 RBIs.
Judge’s eighth career grand slam gave the Yankees (86-62) a three-game lead over Baltimore for top spot in the American League East, but the Orioles lost 1-0 to the Detroit Tigers on Friday.
Prior to Judge’s home run, the Yankees took a 4–1 lead on Gleyber Torres’s single off Jack Kelly. Anthony Volpe and Alex Verdugo walked.
New York reliever Luke Weaver struck out five over the final two innings for his second save.
Mark Leiter Jr. (4-5) gave up a two-run homer to Trevor Story in the seventh to give the Yankees a 4-0 lead. He struck out Rafael Devers to end the game and New York recorded its 11th win of the season after trailing through six innings.
Masataka Yoshida hits a two-run homer off Clarke Schmidt in the sixth inning to give the Red Sox a 2–0 lead, but Boston’s losing streak reaches seven games.
Schmidt allowed two runs on five hits in his second game after missing more than three months because of a lat strain. The right-hander had five strikeouts and a walk.
Boston freshman Richard Fitts was forced into his second start, and scheduled starter Tanner Houck was taken out shortly before the first pitch because of right shoulder fatigue.
Houk hasn’t played since Sept. 4 against the New York Mets.
In his major league debut Sunday against the Chicago White Sox, Fitz allowed two unearned runs in 5 2/3 innings before giving up two more hits to Anthony Rizzo and striking out two in five innings.
The Yankees drafted Fitz in 2021 and then traded him and reliever Greg Weissert to Boston for Verdugo in December.
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