Aaron Judge hit his first home run since June 3 to help the New York Yankees pick up an 8-3 victory against the host Baltimore Orioles on Saturday night.
Giancarlo Stanton and Kyle Higashioka also homered and Isiah Kiner-Falefa drove in three runs as the Yankees evened the three-game series after losing 1-0 one night earlier.
Judge came off the injured list on Friday and played for the first time since that June 3 game in Los Angeles. His 20th home run of the season marked his first hit in the series. Judge, who played as the right fielder, finished 3-for-5 and scored two runs.
Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt pitched five innings and allowed three runs. Schmidt (7-6) has won his last five decisions.
Ian Hamilton and Nick Ramirez each pitched two shutout innings in relief for the combined five-hitter.
Baltimore starter Tyler Wells (7-6) was gone after 2 2/3 innings in his third straight short outing. He gave up three runs, three hits and three walks on the way to dropping to 0-5 all-time versus the Yankees.
Higashioka also had three hits for New York.
Stanton's 14th homer of the season was his third long ball in an eight-game stretch.
The American League East-leading Orioles, who have lost three of their last four games, were even at 1-1 in the second inning thanks to a Ryan Mountcastle leadoff homer. It was Mountcastle's 13th home run of the season.
Baltimore went ahead later in the inning when Adam Frazier doubled and scored on Ramon Urias' two-out infield single.
Judge's two-run shot to center field in the third gave the Yankees the lead again.
The Yankees went up 4-2 in the fourth courtesy of Gleyber Torres' sacrifice fly. The Orioles were within 4-3 after Anthony Santander, the hero a night earlier, knocked in a run with a fifth-inning groundout.
Higashioka's homer -- his sixth of the season -- began the scoring in a four-run sixth that also included Kiner-Falefa's two-out, three-run double.
--Field Level Media
NY Yankees | Baltimore | |
Clarke Schmidt | Player | Tyler Wells |
Win | W/L | Loss |
5.0 | IP | 2.2 |
2 | Strikeouts | 1 |
5 | Hits | 3 |
5.40 | ERA | 10.12 |
NY Yankees | Baltimore | |
Kyle Higashioka | Player | Adam Frazier |
3 | Hits | 1 |
1 | RBI | 0 |
1 | HR | 0 |
6 | TB | 2 |
.750 | Avg | .333 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
NY Yankees | 12 | 3 | 22 | .324 | 19 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 0 |
Baltimore | 5 | 1 | 11 | .156 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 |