Chicago

Judge's Big Blast Helps Yankees Topple Sox 9-1

Aaron Judge's latest mighty homer soared deep into left field, giving the Bronx one last jolt on a frigid night.

Until next time, Yankee Stadium.

Judge hit a homer to more than halfway up the bleachers, Masahiro Tanaka pitched seven innings of one-run ball and the New York Yankees beat the Chicago White Sox 9-1 Wednesday to wrap a superb homestand.

New York went 8-1 over its first stretch in the Bronx this season, its most wins in a homestand since going 9-1 from July 17-26, 2009. The Yankees have the major leagues' best home winning percentage since last July 17 at .702 (33-14).

The Yankees started 1-4 but have won nine of 10 since. They were 8-14 last April.

"A lot of energy in this stadium this whole homestand, and I think we just kind of fed off that," Judge said.

Judge followed Starlin Castro's three-run shot in the fifth with his 448-foot drive for the Yankees' first back-to-back homers of the season. Chase Headley hit a two-run homer in the first inning and Aaron Hicks also went deep to give New York a season-high four home runs.

Dylan Covey (0-1) got beat in his second major league start, allowing eight runs, 10 hits and three homers over five innings.

A night after totaling four hits — none that left the infield — in a 4-1 loss to Chicago, the Yankees got five hits the first time through the order, all on line drives to the outfield.

Covey recovered for a spell, but then Castro went deep on a 3-0 pitch into the visiting bullpen in left field for his third homer this season, and Judge followed with his soaring shot.

Statcast measured Judge's hit at 115.5 mph, the fourth-hardest hit homer this season. Judge was disappointed to hear it didn't go farther — teammate Matt Holliday hit a 459-foot home run off Derek Holland on Monday night.

"Man, I don't know," Judge said, adding "I thought I beat him, but I guess not."

"I question the distance they measured that in," manager Joe Girardi said.

Tanaka (2-1) built off getting his first win of the season Friday against St. Louis. The right-hander induced 10 groundouts, struck out six and allowed six hits and two walks, lowering his ERA from 8.36 to 6.00.

Hicks got his first-career pinch-homer in the eighth inning. He has four homers in 10 games this season, already halfway to his total in 123 games last season.

Bryan Mitchell was perfect over 1 1/3 innings for New York on his 26th birthday, and Tommy Layne finished.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
Contact Us