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
