Aaron Judge remained at 60 home runs, Nestor Cortes pitched six innings of one-hit ball and the New York Yankees recorded a rain-shortened 2-0 victory over the visiting Boston Red Sox Sunday night to extend their winning streak to seven games.
Heavy rain halted play at 9:15 p.m. after the Yankees batted in the sixth. Judge was due to lead off the seventh and most fans remained in the stadium. Umpires came on to the field at 10:44 and walked off two minutes later after conferring with Boston manager Alex Cora and New York manager Aaron Boone.
Judge went 1-for-2 with a walk and remained one homer behind Roger Maris for the AL record. Maris set the mark when he hit his 61st homer on the final day of the 1961 season with the Yankees.
Since his last homer in the ninth inning Tuesday against Pittsburgh, Judge is 4-for-15 with six walks. He opened Sunday’s game with a double on the second pitch he saw from rookie Brayan Bello (2-7).
While Judge did not homer, the slugger extended his on-base streak to a season-best 24 games.
The Yankees (94-58) won for the 15th time in 19 games and reduced their magic number for clinching the American League East to two.
Cortes (11-4) allowed just a ground-rule double to Rob Refsnyder in the fourth in his longest outing since returning from a groin injury. Cortes struck out five and walked two while throwing 101 pitches.
The Yankees took the lead in the fourth when rookie Oswaldo Cabrera doubled, stole second as Aaron Hicks struck out and scored on Jose Trevino’s single.
New York added a second run when Hicks scored from first on a fielding error by Refsnyder in right. With two outs in the sixth as rain began to fall, Refsnyder dropped a fly ball by Marwin Gonzalez, the ball caroming off his glove as he glanced into the rain.
Judge was on deck when the game was delayed as thunder and lightning appeared over Yankee Stadium.
Bello allowed two runs (one earned) on six hits in six innings. The right-hander struck out four and walked two.
The Red Sox (72-80) gave Rafael Devers and Alex Verdugo the night off and dropped their fifth straight.
–Field Level Media
