Yankees’ Aaron Judge ends HR drought with grand slam against Red Sox

NEW YORK — Aaron Judge ended the longest home run streak of his MLB career in the loudest possible way Friday night.

With the New York Yankees facing a three-run deficit against the Boston Red Sox in the seventh inning, Judge hit the game-winning grand slam, giving him a league-best 52nd home run of the season. SWAT unleashed a thunderous frenzy at Yankee Stadium. The MVP chants prompted Judge, the American League MVP favorite, to come out of the dugout for the call.

It was Judge’s eighth career grand slam and his first home run since hitting two home runs against the Colorado Rockies on Aug. 25. He had played in 16 games, 60 at-bats and 75 walks, but had never hit a home run.

After the game, which New York won 5-4, Judge said the length of the drought was news to him.

“Was it 16 games? I really didn’t know that,” Judge said. “It’s just another day. I’m not really focused on hitting homeruns. I’m not focused on any of that. I’ve got a job to do.

“Sixteen games, is that a lot or not? I don’t know.”

Judge then learned that this was the most games in his major league career in which he had not hit a home run.

“Is that the most?” the judge asked. “It’ll probably be longer at some point in my career. So we’ll definitely beat that.”

Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt refused to believe Judge’s ignorance.

“We try not to dwell on it and just pay attention to what we can control,” Schmidt said. “But Judge — he’s very aware of that stuff, I think. So it’s hard to ignore. It seems like when he goes two games in a row without a home run, something’s wrong.”

Most importantly for the Yankees, their 5-4 lead held, giving them their third straight dramatic victory. That result, combined with the Orioles’ loss, moved the Yankees three games ahead of Baltimore for first place in the American League East with 14 games to play. Their three-game lead in the division is their largest since June 7.

Players are more likely to keep track of results in October, but Judge believes the Yankees’ concerns about other teams’ performance hurt them during poor games against weaker opponents in late August and September.

“I think we were paying attention to the standings a couple weeks ago, and I think back then we just kept changing, kind of passing the lead,” Judge said. “We all talked in that room and said, ‘Hey, if we just focus on ourselves and what we have to do, we’ll be where we want to be.’ So I hope nobody’s looking at the standings. I certainly am not.”

The Orioles had already lost to the Detroit Tigers when Anthony Volpe entered the box to start the bottom of the seventh inning, with New York trailing 4-0. The Red Sox were in control. Then they fell apart.

Red Sox right-hander Zack Kelly led off the inning with a walk to Volpe. Alex Verdugo was down 2-0 before he recovered and earned another walk. Gleyber Torres singled to score Volpe from second base for the Yankees’ first score of the night.

Then Red Sox manager Alex Cora replaced Clark with left-hander Cam Booser to face Juan Soto, with Judge close. Booser added fuel to the fire, walking Soto on four pitches well beyond the strike zone to load the bases. With each pitch, the decibel level in the building reached a new high. On the fourth, Yankee Stadium went wild. Soto flipped his bat. Judge walked to the plate. Booser was in trouble.

He made matters worse by getting behind Judge with the cutter in the dirt. The next pitch was a fastball that looked to be in the strike zone but was called a ball. Forced to attack the strike zone, Booser sent a 96-mph fastball up the middle. Judge lunged and didn’t miss.

“Everything clicked,” Schmidt said. “It was perfect timing.”

“The Jazz came up to me after Judge hit the homer, and just seeing our bench explode, seeing Yankee Stadium explode, he said, ‘This is pretty cool.’ It was one of those really cool regular-season moments that you can have at Yankee Stadium.”

Yankees manager Aaron Boone

Judge’s breakthrough extended the Yankees’ three-game winning streak in a playoff-like atmosphere.

On Wednesday, Soto belted two home runs to lead off the game with his right leg still throbbing moments after fouling out a throw that scared the Yankees. New York beat the Kansas City Royals 4-3 in 11 innings on the first walk-off hit of his career by Jazz Chisholm Jr. On Thursday, Soto belted his first walk-off hit in the pinstripes in a 2-1, 10-inning win over the Red Sox to open a four-game series against the rival Yankees.

On Friday it was Judge’s turn to delight the audience with another theatrical performance.

“The Jazz came up to me after Judge hit the homer, and just seeing our bench erupt, Yankee Stadium erupt, he thought, ‘This is pretty cool,’” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “It was one of those really cool regular-season moments you can have at Yankee Stadium.”