Aaron Judge’s best night of the season nearly went by the wayside because the New York Yankees struggled to get outs, especially against Mike Trout.
After surviving Trout’s two homers, the Yankees snapped their five-game skid with their wildest win of the early season. They hope to get a less stressful victory on Tuesday night when they host the Los Angeles Angels in the second contest of a four-game series.
New York’s past nine games have been decided by two runs or less. The Yankees improved to 3-6 in those games after Jose Caballero scored on a wild pitch by Jordan Romano in the ninth inning to record a wild 11-10 victory on Monday.
Judge hit a two-run homer in the first inning and a solo shot in the sixth to snap a 7-7 tie. He has three of his six homers in the past two games.
“Every good (team) goes through at least two big losing streaks,” said Judge, who is 11-for-36 in his past 10 games. “So hopefully we can get this one out of the way.”
Trent Grisham homered twice by belting a pinch-hit, three-run homer in the sixth inning and a tying two-run homer in the ninth before Caballero doubled and stole third ahead of the wild pitch.
Trout entered the series hitting .208 but felt encouraged by some of his at-bats in the series opener.
“He’s the greatest of all time,;he’s been fun to watch his whole career,” Judge said about Trout.
Trout launched a tying three-run homer off Jake Bird in the sixth inning immediately after Grisham’s first homer. Trout hit a two-run drive in the eighth off Camilo Doval to give the Angels an 10-8 lead.
“Honestly, you’ve been waiting for that because Mike’s been hitting the ball hard,” Los Angeles manager Kurt Suzuki said, “He’s been having some tough luck and putting some really good swings on the ball, and you’re kind of waiting for a game like this, and it was a good night to have it. Just tough luck coming on the losing end.”
Trout’s multi-homer game was achieved on a night in which the Angels collected 12 hits.
“It was definitely one of the better games,” said Trout, who has four homers and 12 RBIs this season. “Just a fun one to be a part of. Obviously the loss is disappointing, but throughout the whole game we battled back and had great at-bats the whole game. Sometimes they don’t go your way.”
After neither team saw their starter complete the fourth inning in the series opener, Ryan Weathers (0-1, 2.81 ERA) will look to do better on Tuesday for the Yankees when he opposes fellow left-hander Reid Detmers (0-1, 4.60).
After pitching a combined eight innings in no-decisions against the Seattle Mariners and Miami Marlins, Weathers allowed one run on seven hits in eight innings in a 1-0 loss to the Athletics on Thursday.
Weathers took the loss in his lone previous start against the Angels when he allowed three runs on four hits in three innings during a 10-2 defeat for the San Diego Padres on Sept. 28, 2021.
Detmers is 0-4 with an 8.36 ERA since his most recent win as a starter on Sept. 9, 2024, against the Minnesota Twins. He endured his worst start of his return to the rotation on Wednesday when he allowed six runs (five earned) in 4 1/3 innings of an 8-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves.
Detmers does not have a decision and has pitched 8 1/3 scoreless innings in five previous appearances against the Yankees.
–Field Level Media
