The case for Aaron Judge’s MVP bid is only getting stronger, as is his price.
Judge continued his monster season Friday night, with his bat and his glove, to lift the Yankees to an 11-5 comeback victory over the Royals in the Bronx.
After opening the game by robbing MJ Melendez of a home run in the first inning, Judge crushed his 40th and 41st home runs of the season — the second a grand slam to cap an eight-run eighth inning in which the Yankees regain the lead. for good.
“Historic,” Gerrit Cole said. “I haven’t seen anything like that, that much, from anybody, really. I don’t think I’ve played with a guy that’s hit 40 homers. It’s July. So I’m rooting for him. I wish I could have my phone on the bench like the rest of the fans who make a video of each of their baptisms.
“It’s kind of a constant dose of wonder every day. Pretty inspiring.”
Aaron Judge smashes a grand slam in the eighth inning. AP Aaron Judge steals a home run in the first inning. Jason Szenes
Judge’s first home run, a two-run shot that traveled 449 feet, gave the Yankees (68-33) a 3-0 lead in the third inning. The second went 370 feet and put them up 11-5 after entering the eighth inning trailing 5-3. The pending free agent has now hit 11 home runs in his last 13 games.
Judge became the first Yankee since Roger Maris in 1961 to hit the 40 home run mark before August, joining Babe Ruth (1928, 1921) as the only players in franchise history with 41 home runs through the first 101 games of a season.
A night after ending the game with a home run, Judge led off Friday’s game with a stolen home run. Starting in right field for the first time since July 10, Judge went back to the wall, jumped and used his entire 6-foot-7 frame to reach and retrieve what would have been a Melendez home run.
“Maybe I should give him three [home runs] tonight,” coach Aaron Boone said. “Maybe we should take it to the 42 with the steal right out of the gate. Just a special player who does really incredible things.”
Even though Judge is on pace to hit 66 home runs, he’s shrugged off all the eye-popping stats he’s racked up to this point in the season.
“Like I’ve said 1,000 times, I’m focused on winning baseball games right now,” Judge said. “Statistics and things like that, we can talk about that at the end of the year.”
A defensive miscue by Isiah Kiner-Falefa (a jumper that bounced off him) led to a five-run fifth inning by the Royals (39-61) against shortstop Cole of the Yankees found redemption in the eighth inning, after a 23-minute rain delay.
Gerrit Cole pitched during the Yankees’ win over the Royals on Friday. Robert Sabo for the NY POST
In the first, after a groundout by Judge, Anthony Rizzo hit an infield single and Gleyber Torres singled to center. The Yankees then got help from Royals shortstop Maikel Garcia, who threw a potential double play ball into the bottom of the inning hit by Josh Donaldson, leaving the bases loaded with one out.
Andrew Benintendi was up next and recorded his first hit as a Yankee, an RBI infield single to first base that cut the deficit to 5-4. After Aaron Hicks tried to argue that he was hit by a pitch, he ended up drawing a walk to drive in the tying run.
Kiner-Falefa then got the run, singling through the left side to put the Yankees up 6-5 and extend his hitting streak to a career-high 15 games.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa leads off in the eighth inning. Robert Sabo for the NY POST Andrew Benintendi celebrates after his RBI single in the eighth inning. AP
After Jose Trevino added an insurance run with an RBI, DJ LeMahieu walked to load the bases again. Judge followed with his grand slam, which capped the Yankees’ league-leading 29th comeback win of the year.
“We talked a little bit during the rain delay and that kind of closed us all down again and got us back to what we do,” Judge said. “I feel like every year we play every game a little bit better when our backs are against the wall.”