Aaron Judge hits two homers to help the Yankees battle back from 6-0 down to beat Tampa Bay Rays 9-8

Aaron Judge hit his second two-run homer of Saturday’s game in the sixth inning as the New York Yankees rallied from a six-run deficit and then held on for a 9-8 victory over the visiting Tampa Bay Rays.

Judge, who wore pink spikes on Mother’s Day weekend, suffered a stroke after an injured list, caused by a sore hip. His homers were his first since April 19 and gave him his 29th career multihomer game.

His first home run was a well-traveled 439-foot blast to right center field. It came in the bottom of the fifth, with the Yankees trailing the Rays 6-2.

The 2022 AL MVP’s second homer of the day came in the bottom of the sixth with Tampa Bay leading by just a thread (6-5). Judge’s second home run was a two-run go-ahead blast (7-6) that flew 140 yards into the second deck of left field.

The Yankees ended up winning for the eighth time in 11 games by making their biggest comeback this year.

The AL MVP’s second homer of 2022 came in the bottom of the sixth, giving the Yankees the lead

Rays ace Shane McClanahan failed to hold onto a 6-0 lead in the fifth inning, six days after Yankees ace Gerrit Cole squandered a 6-0 fifth inning lead in an 8-7 loss in 10 innings into Tampa Bay.

In a matchup of All-Star starters, Yandy Díaz hit his first career grand slam in a five-run fifth against Nestor Cortes, beginning a streak in which 22 of 37 batters reached base in a span of two and a half innings. .

After two home runs by Kyle Higashioka and Judge (his first of two) in the bottom of the fifth, Anthony Volpe reached on a bunt-single to the left off Rays pitcher Ryan Thompson (1-1) from the sixth.

The Yankees rookie’s shortstop then sensationally stole second and third, before rushing home on the next pitch when Thompson’s slider went wide out, dodging catcher Francisco Mejía.

Volpe is 13 for 13 in attempted steals, one more than DiMaggio from the start of his career until he was caught at home by Boston on September 25, 1939, as part of a double attempted steal with Lou Gehrig.

Gleyber Torres walked and Judge then drove his second homer of the day (his eighth of the season) to give the Yankees the lead.

Orlando Cabrera, who came in as a pinch hitter in the fifth inning, added a two-run single against Javy Guerra on a grounder to right that just missed diving second baseman Taylor Walls.

Judge is congratulated in the dugout after hitting a two-run home run in the sixth inning

Rookie shortstop Anthony Volpe also got on the board for the Yankees after scoring on a thrown wild pitch and stealing two bases

Randy Arozarena hit a broken-bat, two-run single in the seventh against Clay Holmes after two batters reached on Ron Marinaccio.

Díaz stranded a runner on second place in the eighth when he took a called third at bat from Holmes in a nine-pitch at bat, and Wandy Peralta completed a walk of two in the ninth, for his second save this season – both in a time frame of 19 hours. Brandon Lowe fouled six 1-2 pitches before hitting a game-ending flyout.

Jimmy Cordero (3-1) threw 1 2/3 scoreless innings for the win. New York is 3-3 against the Major League-leading Rays and is eight games behind in the AL East.

McClanahan came in 7-0 with a 1.76 ERA and had not allowed more than two runs in his first eight starts. He allowed four runs, four hits and four walks in over four innings.

Cortes gave up six runs and seven hits in 4 1/3 innings and gave up 15 runs in his last three starts as his ERA exploded to 5.53. He wore green cleats with the name and image of Tam Major, a horse that Cortes owns.