Aaron Judge became the first big leaguer with 40 homers this season, smashed a grand slam for No. 41 and robbed a home run in right field as the New York Yankees rallied to beat the Kansas City Royals 11-5 Friday night.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa lined a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning as New York completed its major league-leading 29th comeback victory.
Judge was lavished with “MVP!” chants throughout the night, none louder than after his slam in the eighth cemented yet another Yankees rally. He also had a single and finished with six RBIs.
Judge and Anthony Rizzo homered early on a rainy night in the Bronx, but Kansas City came back against Gerrit Cole, with Whit Merrifield’s two-run single in the fifth ending a scoreless drought of 31 2/3 innings for the Royals. Salvador Perez followed Merrifield with a go-ahead, three-run homer in his return from the injured list.
PADRES 10, TWINS 1 >> Jorge Alfaro launched a three-run homer, Luke Voit and All-Star Manny Machado each hit a two-run shot and San Diego had its first five-homer game in more than a year in a win over AL Central-leading Minnesota.
METS 6, MARLINS 4 >> Starling Marte homered, tripled and drove in three runs, Brandon Nimmo broke an eighth-inning tie with a two-run shot as New York overcame two early deficits to defeat Miami and run its winning streak to four games.
ORIOLES 6, REDS 2 >> Cedric Mullins hit a tiebreaking, two-run single in a four-run ninth inning, and Baltimore beat Cincinnati to move two games over .500 for the first time since April 2021.
BRAVES 5, DIAMONDBACKS 2 >> Austin Riley had a homer and three RBIs, Kyle Wright earned his NL-leading 13th victory and Atlanta topped Arizona.
CARDINALS 6, NATIONALS 2 >> Nolan Gorman and Lars Nootbaar hit back-to-back homers in the sixth inning as St. Louis beat Washington and won consecutive games for the first time since July 15-16.
PHILLIES 4, PIRATES 2, 10 INNINGS >> Rhys Hoskins drilled a go-ahead two-run homer in the top of the 10th to lift Philadelphia past Pittsburgh.
GUARDIANS 4, RAYS 1 >> José Ramirez hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the fifth, Shane Bieber struck out eight in seven innings and Cleveland beat Tampa Bay.
TIGERS 4, BLUE JAYS 2 >> Willi Castro homered for the second time in two games, Victor Reyes had three hits, and Detroit beat Toronto.
BREWERS 4, RED SOX 1 >> Christian Yelich drove in the go-ahead run with a single in the seventh inning, Brandon Woodruff struck out nine and Milwaukee won in its return to Boston for the first time in eight years.
Astros 11, mariners 1 >> Justin Verlander pitched one-run ball into the eighth inning and won his MLB-leading 14th game, Aledmys Díaz hit two homers and Yordan Alvarez slugged his 30th home run of the season to lead Houston past Seattle.
A’s 7, White Sox 3 >> Seth Brown hit two solo homers, Stephen Piscotty hit a three-run shot, and James Kapriellian pitched six strong innings for Oakland.