NEW YORK — Aaron Judge was in the midst of a career-long stretch without a homer. In 75 plate appearances across 16 games, the New York Yankees slugger was stuck on 51 homers for the season.
That was the case until he stepped to the plate in the bottom of the seventh with the bases loaded on Friday against the Boston Red Sox. Judge crushed a four-seamer from reliever Cam Booser to left field, turning a 4-1 Red Sox lead into an eventual 5-4 Yankees victory, a brutal defeat for a Red Sox club desperate for wins.
Aaron Judge sends the Yankee Stadium crowd into a frenzy! pic.twitter.com/6Ll7ZEiTlD
— MLB (@MLB) September 14, 2024
“Very deflating,” said reliever Zack Kelly, who opened the seventh with two straight walks and a single that drove in one run before Booser entered the game.
Booser, who made 19 pitches on Thursday and hadn’t pitched back-to-back games since coming off the injured list on Wednesday, walked Juan Soto to load the bases before Judge’s grand slam.
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“I put Boos in that situation,” Kelly said. “Tough situation for anybody, and he’s been a workhorse for us this year. My mentality is that situation never should have happened in the first place. I take ownership of that.”
It marked another inexcusable loss in a second half that’s seen plenty of meltdowns.
The Red Sox had taken a 4-0 lead thanks to two two-run homers — one from Masataka Yoshida and the other Trevor Story in the sixth and seventh innings, respectively — that snapped a scoreless tie.
Justin Slaten, pitching for a third straight day, had a clean sixth inning, but Kelly ran into trouble right off the bat in the seventh, walking Anthony Volpe and Alex Verdugo, the eighth and ninth hitters. He’d been ahead two strikes on each batter before issuing the walks.
“Throw strikes, doesn’t matter if your stuff is nasty, if you don’t throw strikes that’s going to happen,” manager Alex Cora said. “(Kelly has) been inconsistent. He was really good early in the season, but lately it’s hit or miss. We keep giving him the ball because we trust him and the stuff, but tonight it didn’t happen.”
The latest bullpen blowup cost Richard Fitts his first big-league win, which would have come against the team that traded him (along with Greg Weissert and minor league pitcher Nicholas Judice) to the Red Sox this winter for Verdugo.
After a rocky first inning, the rookie held the Yankees to two hits over five scoreless innings, walking three and striking out two.
Fitts made his MLB debut on Sunday and pitched well against the Chicago White Sox, but a ninth-inning implosion with Kelly on the mound gave the Red Sox a loss that day too. Fitts was called up on Sunday in place of Tanner Houck, who the Red Sox had skipped in the rotation as he dealt with a dead arm. Houck hasn’t pitched since Sept. 4, but he had bounced back throughout the week, telling The Athletic on Wednesday he felt ready to go for Friday. Houck was the announced starter, but less than a half hour before first pitch, he was scratched.
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Cora explained Houck arrived at the ballpark and felt tightness in his shoulder. After the training staff ran tests, they determined his shoulder was weaker than it had been on Thursday and opted to rest him. The Red Sox feel Houck will be ready to pitch again in a few days, but it’s clear the situation remains fluid.
“It didn’t make sense for him to go out there today,” Cora said. “The plan right now is for him to start (next week) in Tampa. … We don’t feel like it’s going to take longer. It just felt like today (our trainers) were very proactive. This guy is very important for us, not only for now, but for the future.”
Fitts, a Yankees’ 2021 sixth-round pick, had remained with the Red Sox all week in case Houck couldn’t go. He got the call that he was starting at the last minute.
“It was a pretty unreal night,” said Fitts, who’d never been to Yankee Stadium before Thursday’s series opener. “I was excited to be here. It’s a quick turnaround to find out when I was starting, but I welcomed the challenge.”
Fitts, the No. 17 Red Sox prospect coming into the season per The Athletic’s Keith Law, was expected to pitch out of the bullpen had Houck started the game, so he’d been prepared for Yankees batters, but not for the start. He got two quick outs in the first before losing his command, throwing 15 of his next 21 pitches for balls and loading the bases on walks. But with Jazz Chisholm Jr. at the plate, Fitts buckled down and got him to fly out.
“I had to take a step back, instead of pitching to a tough lineup, just pitch to my strengths and do whatever I can to get outs,” Fitts said.
After a 29-pitch first inning, it didn’t appear he would last long in the game, but the right-hander locked down and didn’t issue another walk.
In the third, he got Judge to strike out swinging on an elevated fastball after a nine-pitch at-bat, mixing sliders, sweepers and four-seamers. Not a typical strikeout pitcher, Fitts’ only other strikeout on the night was Soto, his final batter of the game.
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“He knew that there was a chance that he was going to be a big part of the game tonight, and was he, right?” Cora said. “The kid, he walks three guys in the first inning, and then after that, good stuff. He was able to slow down the game, and it was fun to watch him pitch tonight.
“Like I told him, probably the last few years, he dreamed of playing at Yankee Stadium and he did, just for us,” Cora added.
But as has happened too many times this season, the bullpen wasted a chance for a victory.
“It’s a tough one,” said Story. “No getting around it.”
(Photo of Judge rounding the bases after the grand slam, as Rafael Devers looks on: Luke Hales / Getty Images)
Jen McCaffrey is a staff writer for The Athletic covering the Boston Red Sox. Prior to joining The Athletic, the Syracuse graduate spent four years as a Red Sox reporter for MassLive.com and three years as a sports reporter for the Cape Cod Times. Follow Jen on Twitter @jcmccaffrey
