Aaron Judge of the Yankees follows through on his 60th home run of the season to lead off the ninth inning Tuesday night against the Pirates in New York. Jessie Alcheh/Associated Press

NEW YORK — Aaron Judge hit his 60th home run and Giancarlo Stanton followed with a game-ending grand slam, completing the New York Yankees’ stunning five-run, ninth-inning rally to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 9-8 on Tuesday night.

Judge moved within one of Roger Maris’ American League record when he turned on a sinker from right-hander Wil Crowe (5-10) leading off the inning and drove it 430 feet into the left-field bleachers, pulling New York to 8-5.

Judge took a rare curtain call, forced by his teammates.

“I really didn’t want to do it,” he said.

Judge matched the 60 home runs Babe Ruth hit for the 1927 Yankees to set a big league record that stood for 34 years. It came off a pitcher whose great, great uncle, Hall of Famer Red Ruffing, was Ruth’s teammate on the Yankees in the 1930s.

“He did what he was supposed to do with it,” Crowe said, “3-1 count, I’m not going to put him on. I felt like I wanted to go after him. Started away, came back in. He put a good swing on a bad pitch.”

Advertisement

Anthony Rizzo doubled, Gleyber Torres walked and Josh Donaldson singled to load the bases. Stanton, mired in a 9-for-72 slump, sent a change-up half a dozen rows into the left-field seats to set off a raucous celebration among what remained of the crowd of 40,157 at Yankee Stadium.

Stanton’s low drive was measured at 118 mph.

“I kind of lost my mind,” Judge said. “That’s a signature Giancarlo Stanton 10-foot laser.”

Roger Maris Jr. and Kevin Maris, sons of the former player, were both on hand. Specially marked balls were used each time Judge walked to the plate. Fans in the outfield seats stood and many groaned with each foul ball.

Aroldis Chapman (3-3) pitched a 1-2-3 ninth.

Bryan Reynolds tied it 4-4 with a seventh-inning home run off Lou Trivino and had a go-ahead single off Jonathan Loaisiga in the eighth for his fourth hit.

Advertisement

Rodolfo Castro – the player suspended for a game by Major League Baseball last month after a cell phone flew out of his pocket during a headfirst slide – followed with a three-run homer against Clay Holmes.

Holmes, an All-Star who has slumped in the second half, was pitching against his former team for the first time.

Harrison Bader had a pair of go-ahead singles and drove in three runs in his debut for the Yankees. First baseman Anthony Rizzo made a key error that led to the four-run eighth inning for the already-eliminated Pirates.

Reynolds also had a three-base error on a dropped fly in center, one of two errors by a team that leads the major leagues with 108.

BLUE JAYS 18, PHILLIES 11: Matt Chapman hit a three-run homer in the first inning, Jackie Bradley Jr. added a three-run shot in the ninth and visiting Toronto used 21 hits to rough up Philadelphia.

The Blue Jays have won 5 of 7 games. The Phillies have lost five straight.

Advertisement

Kyle Schwarber hit his NL-best 40th homer of the season for the Phillies in the eighth, a three-run shot that made it 14-10. He became the first Phillies slugger to hit 40 since Ryan Howard did it from 2006-2009.

J.T. Realmuto hit his 20th homer and went 5 for 5 for the Phillies, driving in two runs and scoring twice.

Raimel Tapia and Danney Jansen each had three RBI for the Blue Jays. Toronto had 10 extra-base hits and scored in every inning but the fourth.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

TIGERS 3, ORIOLES 2: Joey Wentz took a shutout into the sixth inning and Akil Baddoo and Kerry Carpenter homered to lift Detroit to a win at Baltimore.

Wentz (2-2) allowed two hits and two walks in 5 2/3 innings. It was the third time in five big league starts that the rookie has held the opposition scoreless.

Advertisement

Baddoo’s 448-foot home run in the third opened the scoring, bringing home two runs. Carpenter added a solo shot in the seventh.

Rookie standout Gunnar Henderson hit a two-run homer in the seventh for Baltimore’s first runs of the series.

ASTROS 5, RAYS 0: Tampa Bay Rays ace Shane McClanahan was pulled in the fifth inning with neck tightness during a home loss to Houston.

The AL All-Star Game starter and Cy Young Award contender allowed five runs for only the second time this season, pushing his ERA to 2.36. McClanahan (12-6) was making his second start after returning from the 15-day injured list due to a left shoulder impingement.

McClanahan walked Jose Altuve leading off the fifth, then threw three straight balls to Jeremy Pena. Manager Kevin Cash and a trainer then came out of the dugout and pulled McClanahan, even after the 25-year-old appeared to tell Cash, “I’m good.”

Pena hit a three-run homer, Altuve scored three runs and the Astros won for the ninth time in 10 games a day after clinching the AL West championship.

Advertisement

ROYALS 5, TWINS 4: MJ Melendez hit a two-run homer, Salvador Perez drove in the go-ahead run with a two-out double in the seventh inning, and Kansas City Royals held visiting Minnesota.

Minnesota has dropped 5 of 6 to begin an eight-game trip.

ANGELS 5, RANGERS 2: Taylor Ward hit a tie-breaking RBI double during a three-run sixth inning that ended with a triple play and Matt Duffy had a two-run home run among three hits as visiting Los Angeles beat Texas.

Ward doubled into the left-field corner to score Shohei Ohtani from first base off Dennis Santana (3-8), the first of three Texas relievers. Mike Ford and Jo Adell added RBI singles off John King.

With the bases loaded and none out, Max Stassi hit a sharp grounder to third base. Josh Jung fielded the ball behind the bag, stepped on the base, threw to second, and Marcus Semien threw on to Nathaniel Lowe at first to complete the triple play. It was the Rangers’ second triple play this season – a club first – and the eighth in the franchise’s 51 seasons in Texas.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Advertisement

METS 7, BREWERS 5: Francisco Lindor hit a two-out grand slam in the seventh inning to put New York ahead for good as the Mets rallied from a four-run deficit to win at Milwaukee.

Pete Alonso hit his second three-run homer in as many nights as the Mets maintained their one-game lead in the NL East over Atlanta.

DODGERS 6, DIAMONDBACKS 5: Rookie Miguel Vargas drove in the go-ahead run with an infield single in a five-run eighth inning and Los Angeles rallied past visiting Arizona for its MLB-leading 44th comeback win in the first game of a doubleheader.

The Dodgers, with the best record in the majors, won their fifth in a row. Los Angeles shortstop Trea Turner exited in the fifth after being hit in the side by a ball that ricocheted off a runner’s helmet.

After stranding 12 runners though seven innings, managing just one run on seven hits, the Dodgers batted around in the eighth and rallied from a 5-1 deficit.

Austin Barnes chased Caleb Smith with a two-run homer that drew the Dodgers to 5-3. Pinch-hitter Will Smith singled with the bases loaded to make it 5-4.

Advertisement

Los Angeles tied the game on Trayce Thompson’s infield single to third before the 22-year-old Vargas, playing his ninth game in the big leagues, came through against Joe Mantiply with his second hit of the day.

CUBS 2, MARLINS 1: David Bote hit a tying home run in the seventh inning, then added a sacrifice fly in the eighth that lifted Chicago to a win at Miami.

BRAVES 3, NATIONALS 2: Travis d’Arnaud broke a scoreless tie with a two-run homer in the fourth inning, Dansby Swanson went deep in the eighth, and Atlanta moved closer to the postseason by beating visiting Washington.

NOTES

YANKEES: Pitcher Frankie Montas received a second cortisone injection in his ailing right shoulder and went on the injured list, putting his rotation position in doubt for the postseason.

Montas mentioned the shoulder issue to the Yankees after Friday’s start in Milwaukee, when New York failed to hold a 5-0 lead. He is 1-3 with a 6.35 ERA in eight starts since the Yankees acquired him from Oakland for four prospects in an Aug. 1 trade, leaving him 5-12 with a 4.05 ERA in 27 starts this season.

Advertisement

Montas was diagnosed with shoulder inflammation and was given the injection on Monday.

“I’m going to wait a couple days to start playing catch and go from there,” Montas said Tuesday. “Let the cortisone shot … work the magic.”

Montas had his first cortisone shot in early July and did not pitch between July 3 and 21.

“It did work, just probably rushed it a little bit,” he said.

Montas was placed on the 15-day injured list retroactive to Saturday, and New York activated outfielder Harrison Bader. The earliest Montas could be activated is Oct. 2, leaving him at most one start before the playoffs.

“We’ll just see how the recovery goes here over the next week or 10 days and then we’ll see where we are from a calendar standpoint, how many pitches we can get him up to,” Yankees Manager Aaron Boone said. “It might be hard to to get the pitch count back up to a certain point.”

Advertisement

Right-hander Luis Severino is scheduled to start Wednesday against Pittsburgh after recovering from a strained right lat that has sidelined him since July 13. He joins a rotation that includes Gerrit Cole, Nelson Cortes and Jameson Tallion and Domingo German.

Severino estimated he would throw at most 65 pitches against the Pirates, then increase by 10 to 15 in each following start. He isn’t worried about length ahead of the playoffs.

“You know how the postseason is – you got two guys on base, somebody’s warming up already,” he said. “It’s not like I’m going to throw 100 pitches.”

Reliever Scott Effross, out since Aug. 20 with a strained right shoulder, will either be activated Wednesday or throw a second minor league rehab outing.

Infielder DJ LaMahieu, sidelined since Sept. 4 by right second toe inflammation, could be activated during the current homestand.

Matt Carpenter, out since breaking his left foot on Aug. 8, will have X-rays this week to determine whether he can increase workouts.

Advertisement

BRAVES: Rookie Spencer Strider has a sore left oblique and will not make his next start Saturday in Philadelphia.

Strider, the fastest pitcher to record 200 strikeouts in a single season, told the team he didn’t feel right after making his last start, a 5-2 victory Sunday over the Phillies.

“It’s not that we’re going to (put him on the injured list),” Atlanta Manager Brian Snitker said. “We just don’t want to take any chances. He wanted pitch, and we kind of took it out of his hands. And I’m glad he said something.

“That was smart of him because it’s just something that, if we don’t stay ahead of something like that, it could be an end of the year type thing.”

Strider will continue to play catch and when he feels good, the Braves will slot him back into the rotation.

“We talked about it yesterday,” Snitker said. “I think he felt it during the start. He mentioned something afterwards and treated him up yesterday. He was intent on making his next start and probably could, but we don’t want to take a chance.”

Atlanta will start Bryce Elder on Wednesday against Washington and push Max Fried back one day for the first of a four-game series that begins Thursday against the Phillies.

Strider reached 200 strikeouts in 130 innings, two-thirds of an inning quicker than Hall of Famer Randy Johnson in 2001. The right-hander is 11-5 with a 2.67 ERA in 20 starts and 11 relief appearances.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.