Aaron Judge hit his third walk-off home run this year, his major league-leading 39th homer of the season, as the New York Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals 1-0 on Thursday night. night.
New York was limited to one hit before Judge drove a fastball on Scott Barlow’s (4-3) first pitch into the Kansas City bullpen with one out in the ninth, a 431-foot line drive that gave the Yankees his 12th victory this season leaving the rival on the field.
Judge sent the crowd of 43,836 into a frenzy, joining Mickey Mantle as the only Yankees with three home runs to put the rival on the field in one season. Tommy Henrich had two in 1949 plus another against Brooklyn’s Don Newcombe in Game 1 of the World Series.
Barlow walked away with his head down as Judge’s teammates hounded him at the plate.
Judge had never hit a walk-off home run in the major leagues before May 10 against Toronto’s Jordan Romano, and then hit another on June 26 against Houston’s Seth Martinez.
New York hadn’t won a game 1-0 with a home run since Ruben Sierra hit off the Blue Jays’ Vinnie Chulk on April 22, 2004.
Judge had gone 0-for-2 with a pair of strikeouts and a walk before the home run. He also stole his 10th base, a career high.
Andrew Benintendi went 0-for-4 with a strikeout in his Yankees debut, facing Kansas City a day after the Royals traded him to New York for three minor league pitchers.
Clay Holmes (5-1) worked around two walks in a no-hitter ninth, combining on a four-hit pitch with Jameson Taillon and Ron Marinaccio.
