Aaron Judge became the first player this season to reach 40 homers and then capped an eight-run eighth inning with a grand slam for No. 41 as the New York Yankees rallied for an 11-5 victory over the visiting Kansas City Royals on Friday night.
Judge reached 40 by hitting a 449-foot, two-run shot to left field in the third. The slugger then slammed his fourth career grand slam when he hit a first-pitch changeup to the short porch in right field.
Before Judge’s second homer, the Yankees tied the game in the eighth on an infield single by newcomer Andrew Benintendi and a bases-loaded walk by Aaron Hicks off Scott Barlow (4-4). New York’s 29th comeback win occurred after Kansas City rookie shortstop Maikel Garcia booted a potential double play grounder by Josh Donaldson.
The Royals rallied for five runs off Gerrit Cole in the fifth. Whit Merrifield hit a two-run single, and Salvador Perez launched a three-run homer in his first game back from a thumb injury to give the Royals a 5-3 lead. Cole allowed five runs on seven hits in six innings. He fanned nine.
Orioles 6, Reds 2
Cedric Mullins’ two-run single with one out in the top of the ninth began a four-run rally as Baltimore defeated host Cincinnati.
The Orioles’ fourth pitcher, Dillon Tate (2-3), worked out of a seventh-inning jam and pitched a scoreless eighth to earn the win.
Benches briefly cleared in the ninth when Cincinnati reliever Dauri Moreta hit Anthony Santander with a pitch after the Orioles had taken the lead. Santander’s two-run homer in the sixth tied the game 2-2.
Mets 6, Marlins 4
Brandon Nimmo pulled a two-run, tiebreaking homer in the eighth inning, leading New York to a win over host Miami.
Edwin Diaz picked up his 23rd save of the year, striking out all three batters he faced. He threw 10 pitches — all of them for strikes.
The Mets, who have won four straight games, drilled eight extra-base hits, including a double by Nimmo, who had a three-RBI night.Miami starter Sandy Alcantara — the frontrunner for the National League Cy Young Award — had an off night by his standards, allowing eight hits, three walks and four runs in five innings.
Phillies 4, Pirates 2 (10 innings)
Rhys Hoskins hit a two-run homer in the top of the 10th inning to give visiting Philadelphia a comeback win over Pittsburgh.
With Garrett Stubbs pinch-running for automatic runner Kyle Schwarber, Hoskins, who was 4-for-4 with a walk and three RBIs, hit his 20th homer, to center, off Duane Underwood Jr. (0-3).
Schwarber hit an RBI single for the Phillies, who erased a two-run deficit to win their third straight.Philadelphia starter Bailey Falter, in his eighth career start, allowed two runs and five hits in six innings, with eight strikeouts and one walk.
Padres 10, Twins 1
Host San Diego hit a season-high five home runs, all coming against Minnesota rookie starter Joe Ryan in a rout that opened a three-game series.
Luke Voit, Ha-Seong Kim, Eric Hosmer, Manny Machado and Jorge Alfaro homered as Ryan (7-4) gave up all 10 Padres runs in 4 2/3 innings in the worst start of his career.
San Diego starter Blake Snell (3-5) gave up one run — Byron Buxton’s 25th homer of the season — on four hits and a walk with seven strikeouts in six innings.
Brewers 4, Red Sox 1
Christian Yelich’s seventh-inning RBI single proved to be the difference as Milwaukee opened its first series in Boston since 2014 with a win.
Willy Adames went 3-for-5 and drove in a run for the Brewers, who have won three straight games and six of seven since the All-Star break. Brandon Woodruff (9-3) tossed 6 1/3 innings, striking out nine while allowing just one run. Josh Hader struck out three in the ninth inning for his 29th save.
Alex Verdugo and Christian Vazquez both went 2-for-4 for the Red Sox, who have lost three of four.
Cardinals 6, Nationals 2
Nolan Gorman and Lars Nootbaar hit back-to-back home runs and Miles Mikolas tossed seven strong innings as St. Louis opened a three-game series by beating host Washington.
St. Louis improved to 3-3 on its eight-game road trip behind Mikolas (8-8), who bounced back from his worst start of the season. He allowed two runs on six hits, walked one and struck out four.
Josh Bell had two hits and drove in a run for Washington, which went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position and fell to 5-18 this month. In his third start of the season, Anibal Sanchez (0-3) allowed six runs on six hits over 5 2/3 innings. He walked two and struck out four.
Tigers 4, Blue Jays 2
Willi Castro homered, Harold Castro hit a two-run single and visiting Detroit defeated Toronto.
Victor Reyes added three hits and an RBI for the Tigers, who gained a split of the first two games of a four-game series. Five Detroit relievers combined for 5 1/3 scoreless innings.
Blue Jays right-hander Alek Manoah (11-5) allowed four runs, seven hits and one walk while striking out four in 5 1/3 innings.He left the game in the sixth inning after a comebacker struck him on the right elbow. The Blue Jays said he has a contusion on the elbow and X-rays were negative.
Guardians 4, Rays 1
Steven Kwan ran his hitting streak to 12 games and Jose Ramirez hit a two-run home run to lead Cleveland to a victory against Tampa Bay at St. Petersburg, Fla.
Kwan, who has had at least one hit in every game since the All-Star break, had an infield single in the first inning. But it was Kwan’s second and third singles, which came in the fifth and seventh innings, that were more consequential.
Kwan stole second and then scored when Ramirez hit his 21st home run of the season to give the Guardians a 3-1 lead in the fifth. Cleveland extended the lead to 4-1 in the seventh when Kwan scored when Ramirez singled. Ramirez now has 83 RBI on the year. He also has 15 games with three or more RBI this season.
Braves 5, Diamondbacks 2
Austin Riley had three hits, including his 29th home run, and Kyle Wright won his National League-leading 13th game to help Atlanta defeat visiting Arizona in the opener of a three-game series.
Riley, who had his 18-game hitting streak end on Wednesday, hit a solo homer off Madison Bumgarner in the first inning. He went 3-for-4 with two doubles and upped his batting average to .299.
Wright (13-4) extended his winning streak to six straight decisions. He pitched 6 2/3 innings on the muggy night and allowed two runs on five hits, two walks and five strikeouts. Wright has allowed two or fewer runs in five of his last six starts.
Astros 11, Mariners 1
Justin Verlander won his sixth consecutive start while Aledmys Diaz hit two home runs in the Astros’ victory over visiting Seattle.
Verlander (14-3) took sole possession of the major league lead in wins by shackling the Mariners, who have dropped five consecutive games to Houston since the All-Star break. The right-hander tossed 7 2/3 innings, allowing one run on five hits and one walk with five strikeouts.
Efficiency was the calling card for Verlander, who had made just 94 pitches, a stark contrast to Mariners starter Robbie Ray (8-8), who threw 84 pitches while recording only eight outs.
Athletics 7, White Sox 3
Seth Brown homered twice and Stephen Piscotty and Elvis Andrus also went deep to back six strong innings from James Kaprielian and boost Oakland past host Chicago.
Oakland stretched its winning streak to a season-high four games while improving to 7-2 since the All-Star break. Kaprielian (2-5) capped a sterling July with six solid innings, scattering one run and four hits with one walk and four strikeouts.
White Sox right-hander Lance Lynn fell to 1-4 after yielding five runs (four earned) and six hits in 5 2/3 innings. Lynn struck out eight and did not walk a batter. Chicago’s Josh Harrison hit a two-run homer in the seventh against Domingo Acevedo, who took over for Kaprielian.
Dodgers 5, Rockies 4
Will Smith and Trayce Thompson homered and had two hits each, Jake Lamb also had two hits, and Los Angeles beat Colorado in Denver.
Julio Urias (10-6) pitched seven strong innings and Craig Kimbrel allowed two runs in the ninth before notching his 18th save for the Dodgers, who have won six in a row over Colorado.
Jose Iglesias, Randal Grichuk and Kris Bryant had two hits each for the Rockies, who fell to 2-6 since the All-Star break.
Rangers 7, Angels 2
Martin Perez gave up one run in seven innings to lead Texas to a victory over Los Angeles in Anaheim, Calif.
Perez, who allowed three hits and two walks while striking out six and making 102 pitches, won his ninth consecutive decision over his past 18 starts. He has not lost since April 17, when the Angels beat him.
The Rangers blew the game open in the top of the ninth inning, scoring five runs after there were two outs and nobody on base. The Angels aided the Rangers’ rally with a fielding error by second baseman Luis Rengifo that led to four of the runs being unearned.
Cubs 4, Giants 2
Patrick Wisdom hit a home run, Marcus Stroman scattered eight hits in six shutout innings and Chicago outlasted host San Francisco.
Five of the game’s six runs were scored in the ninth.
The Cubs managed just six hits, but thanks in large part to Wisdom’s solo shot in the fifth, it was enough to produce a seventh win in the past eight games.
The Giants collected 13 hits but stranded 13 baserunners. They went just 3-for-11 with runners in scoring position, with two of those three hits failing to produce a run.
-Field Level Media