Aaron Judge home run chase: Slugger stuck at 60; Yankees beat Red Sox 5-4
THE BRONX (WABC) -- Aaron Judge was held without a homer for the third straight game, keeping him at 60 for the season and one shy of Roger Maris' American League record, and the New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox 5-4 Friday night.
Jose Trevino singled home the tiebreaking run with two outs in the eighth inning, and the first-place Yankees reduced their magic number to five for clinching the AL East title.
With four of Maris' children in the ballpark again, Judge went 1 for 4 with a sharp single. He struck out twice and lofted a high fly to left field that excited the sellout crowd of 47,346 for a second or two.
The slugger has two games left to match Maris on New York's current homestand - Saturday afternoon and Sunday night versus the rival Red Sox. After that, the Yankees head to Toronto and have just three home games remaining, Sept. 30 to Oct. 2 against Baltimore.
Since connecting for No. 60 on Tuesday night against Pittsburgh, the closest Judge has come to equaling Maris' 1961 mark was a 404-foot drive caught just in front of the center field fence Thursday night.
One night after the Yankees wrapped up their sixth consecutive playoff berth, ace Gerrit Cole and manager Aaron Boone were ejected in a sixth-inning spat with plate umpire Brian Knight.
Pinch-hitter Harrison Bader drew a two-out walk in the eighth and was credited with a stolen base when a wild pickoff attempt by Matt Strahm (3-4) allowed him to reach third.
Trevino singled to center on the next pitch.
Jonathan Loáisiga (2-3) pitched two scoreless innings for the win, working around a pair of one-out singles in the ninth.
Alex Verdugo tied it for Boston with a three-run homer in the sixth inning. Tommy Pham also went deep against Cole, who has served up 31 long balls this season - most in the American League.
Verdugo sent a 100 mph fastball into the Yankees' bullpen in right-center, one pitch after Cole thought he had an inning-ending strikeout. The right-hander dropped his head and bent over behind the mound as Verdugo took a slow trot around the bases.
After the inning, Cole pointed angrily at Knight and was ejected for the first time in his career - although the five-time All-Star was probably done for the night anyway after 103 pitches.
Boone joined the argument and was tossed for the 24th time as a manager - and career-high seventh this season.
Batting in front of Judge, No. 9 hitter Aaron Hicks launched his 100th major league homer and added an RBI single. Gleyber Torres gave New York a 4-1 lead with a two-run double off starter Rich Hill in the fifth.
Judge laced a hard single in the seventh and has reached base safely in a season-high 22 consecutive games.
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