Yankees give up just 3 runs, hit a bunch of homers in doubleheader sweep of Blue Jays
Aaron Judge broke a sixth-inning tie in the second game with his eighth home run this season, and the New York Yankees swept a doubleheader from the Toronto Blue Jays, 11-2 and 5-1 on Sunday.
Playing one day after his 33rd birthday, Judge drove a first-pitch cutter from Chris Bassitt (2-2) to the opposite field and into the right-field stands for a 2-1 lead. Judge was 3 for 8 in the doubleheader. He leads the major leagues with a .406 batting average and is second with 27 RBIs.
Trent Grisham led off the first with his seventh home run. Bassitt had not allowed a homer in 28 2/3 innings this year coming in.
J.C. Escarra hit his first big league homer in the eighth off Chad Green. Escarra singled home a run against Brendon Little in the three-run sixth following Jasson Domínguez's RBI double that chased Bassitt.
Anthony Santander homered in the third, the only hit Clarke Schmidt allowed over five innings in his third outing since recovering from right rotator cuff tendinitis.
Tim Hill (3-0) pitched a one-hit sixth. Luke Weaver, making his first appearance since taking over from a struggling Devin Williams as the Yankees closer, got three straight outs to finish a three-hitter.
Max Fried cruised in the first game
In the opener, Max Fried won his fifth straight start and Austin Wells capped a six-run third inning with a three-run double off suddenly wild Kevin Gausman.
Fried (5-0) allowed a first-inning RBI groundout and six hits in six innings. He has given up one run over 20 2/3 innings in three starts following Yankees losses, and New York has won all six of his starts.
Anthony Volpe homered off Paxton Schultz, and Oswaldo Cabrera drove in a pair of runs with one of the Yankees' six doubles.
Gausman (2-3) threw 53 pitches in the third, getting just two outs and walking five -- one shy of his career high for a game. Cody Bellinger hit a sacrifice fly, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Volpe forced in runs with consecutive walks and Wells doubled off the right-center wall for a 6-1 lead.
Gausman was ejected by plate umpire Chris Conroy as he walked to the dugout when he was removed after 2 2/3 innings. Toronto manager John Schneider was tossed two innings later for arguing a called strike from Fried to Guerrero.
Gausman threw the most pitches by anyone in an inning since Pittsburgh's Cam Vieaux's 56 in an eight-run eighth against Milwaukee on July 1, 2022, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Gausman threw seven pitches to Cabrera, eight to Bellinger and nine each to Volpe and Wells.
Ben Rice caught for the first time this year when moved by the Yankees from DH to behind the plate in the ninth inning.
