Field Level Media
Jun 25, 2019
DJ LeMahieu and Aaron Judge hit back-to-back homers in the first inning as the New York Yankees set the major league record by homering for the 28th straight game and held on for a 4-3 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium.
The Yankees broke the mark for the longest team homer streak previously held by the Texas Rangers, who achieved it from Aug. 11-Sept. 9, 2002, when Alex Rodriguez hit 16 of their 55 home runs.
LeMahieu broke the record on the sixth pitch from Clayton Richard (0-4) when he drove a 2-2 slider into the second deck in left field. Judge followed LeMahieu's 11th homer by hitting a 1-1 slider into the right-center-field seats.
It was Judge's first homer since April 20 -- the same day he strained his left oblique. He did not return until last Friday.
Gleyber Torres added a solo blast into the right field seats in the second for the Yankees, who won for the 10th time in 11 games. New York has 51 homers since the streak began May 26 in Kansas City.
Former Blue Jay Edwin Encarnacion added a solo drive for New York in the eighth, upping his league-leading total to 24.
The Yankees continued hitting homers on a night when they lost Giancarlo Stanton to a right knee contusion. Stanton exited after the third inning, two innings after an awkward slide at third base, and he was headed for an MRI.
Eric Sogard lifted a sacrifice fly and rookie Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit an RBI single for Toronto, which got its first two runs in the sixth and did not get its first hit until the fifth. Randal Grichuk added an RBI single in the ninth.
The Yankees used Chad Green as the opener after he threw 16 pitches in the eighth inning Monday. Green pitched a perfect first inning before Nestor Cortes Jr. (3-0) allowed two runs in 4 1/3 innings.
Cortes was lifted after Guerrero's hit made it a one-run game. Tommy Kahnle struck out the final two hitters in the sixth, Stephen Tarpley pitched a perfect seventh, and Zack Britton retired Guerrero for the final out of a perfect eighth.
Aroldis Chapman retired Freddy Galvis with two on to end it, recording his 23rd save in 25 chances.
Richard allowed three runs on eight hits in six innings. He struck out one, walked one, tied a career high by allowing three homers and fell to 0-9 in his past 18 starts since June 22, 2018.
--Field Level Media