Aaron Judge hit two more home runs to become the fifth player in MLB history with three seasons of 50 or more, and the New York Yankees went deep five times in all en route to a 10-3 rout of the Colorado Rockies on Sunday.
Judge connected on a two-run homer in the first inning to join Babe Ruth (four times), Mark McGwire (four), Sammy Sosa (four) and Alex Rodriguez (three) as the only players with three 50-homer seasons. The American League MVP front-runner added a solo shot in the seventh, one of three consecutive homers that helped the Yankees earn their fourth win in five games and extend their lead to 1 1/2 games over the Baltimore Orioles for first place in the AL East.
Juan Soto, Giancarlo Stanton and Gleyber Torres also homered for New York. All three finished with two hits, with Torres driving in four runs on the day and Soto two.
Judge's 50th homer came with Torres aboard and erased an early 1-0 deficit after Colorado scratched home a run in the top of the first. Charlie Blackmon led off the game with a walk against Marcus Stroman, advanced to third on an Ezequiel Tovar single and an error, and scored on Brenton Doyle's fielder's choice grounder.
The Yankees extended the lead to 4-1 in the second inning with four consecutive two-out singles off Colorado starter Austin Gomber, including run-scoring hits by Torres and Soto.
Drew Romo singled in Jake Cave in the fourth to allow the Rockies to close the gap, and they got within 4-3 an inning later when Doyle drew a walk against Stroman and came home on Ryan McMahon's two-out double.
The Yankees pulled away in the seventh, however, when Soto, Judge and Stanton all homered in succession off reliever Jeff Criswell.
Judge's blast was his seventh homer in six games and put him on pace for 63, one ahead of the AL-record 62 he hit during his 2022 MVP season.
Torres pushed the margin to 10-3 in the eighth when he followed singles by Alex Verdugo and DJ LeMahieu with his 11th homer of the season.
Stroman (9-6) received the win after striking out five and allowing three runs in five innings. Gomber (4-9) lasted six innings while surrendering four runs.
Bregman, Diaz homers help Astros earn split with Orioles
The Orioles lost ground to the Yankees in the AL East race with a 6-3 defeat to the Houston Astros, who were boosted by back-to-back home runs from Alex Bregman and Yainer Diaz in the seventh inning that snapped a tie game.
Bregman's two-out shot off Burch Smith broke a 3-3 deadlock, and Diaz took the Baltimore reliever deep on the very next pitch to give the AL West leaders a two-run advantage.
Zach Dezenzo added a two-run double to help Houston earn a split of this key four-game series. Dezenzo, Bregman and Mauricio Dubon all finished with two hits.
The Orioles managed just two hits on the night, though one was Ramon Urias' three-run homer that tied the game in the fifth inning.
Houston had gone up early by scoring three times in the fourth inning, all with two out. Jeremy Pena began the rally with a single and then raced all the way from first on Victor Caratini's base hit to account for the game's first run.
After Ben Gamel followed with a single, Dezenzo extended the margin to 3-0 with a double off Baltimore starter Dean Kremer.
Houston's Yusei Kukuchi didn't allow a hit until Eloy Jimenez's lead-off single in the bottom of the fifth, but the left-hander later walked Emmanuel Rivera to set the stage for Urias' game-tying homer on a 1-2 pitch.
Bregman and Diaz's power displays would put the Astros back in front in the seventh, and Houston scratched home another run in the eighth. Gamel walked before advancing to third on a Dezenzo single and an error by Urias, then scored on a sacrifice fly from Jake Meyers.
The Orioles put the lead-off man on in the ninth when Gunnar Henderson drew a walk off Josh Hader, but the veteran closer later got a game-ending double play to seal the win and notch his 28th save.
Kikuchi yielded just two hits despite surrendering three runs in 5 2/3 innings. Kremer struck out five while permitting three runs in six innings.
Diamondbacks finish sweep of Red Sox, extend win streak to six
Eugenio Suarez's go-ahead three-run homer in the sixth inning lifted the surging Arizona Diamondbacks to their sixth straight win, a 7-5 comeback victory over the fading Boston Red Sox.
Suarez went 4 for 4 to cap a huge series in which the third baseman drove in 10 runs to help the Diamondbacks to a three-game sweep. Geraldo Perodomo added a solo homer while knocking in a pair of runs in the finale.
With his team trailing 4-3 in the sixth, Suarez followed Pavin Smith's single and a walk to Adrian Del Castillo with a drive over the Green Monster in left field off Boston starter Tanner Houck that put Arizona ahead.
Perdomo provided some insurance with a solo homer in the top of the ninth. Justin Martinez gave up Tyler O'Neill's solo shot in the bottom of the inning that brought Boston within 7-5, but retired the next three men he faced to record his sixth save.
The Red Sox fell to 6-11 over their last 17 games despite building a 4-0 lead after four innings, with Triston Casas quickly putting them ahead with a solo homer off Merrill Kellly in the first.
Casas and Wilyer Abreu singled in the fourth to put two on for Rafael Devers, who crushed Kelly's pitch over the center field wall for his 200th career homer.
Houck (8-9) held the Diamondbacks scoreless through four innings but ran into trouble in the fifth, as he walked two batters around a Suarez single to load the bases with none out.
Arizona proceeded to manufacture two runs on a Perdomo groundout and Corbin Carroll's sacrifice fly, and another on Jake McCarthy's RBI single which cut the lead to 4-3.
Kelly moved to 4-0 on the season despite permitting four runs with five strikeouts in six innings. Houck was tagged for six runs on seven hits and walked four over six innings.
Ohtani, Judge both unanimous picks for MVP awards
Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani were both unanimously selected to win Most Valuable Player Awards in their respective leagues on Thursday.
Judge collected all 30 first-place votes from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America and Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. garnered all 30 second-place votes.
Yankees outfielder Juan Soto finished third with 21 third-place votes.
Ohtani was an unanimous MVP for the third time, receiving all 30 first-place votes and 420 points in voting by the BWAA. New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor was second with 263 points and Arizona second baseman Ketel Marte third with 229.
It is the second AL MVP award of Judge's career after he also won the award in 2022.
Judge led the major leagues with 58 homers, 144 RBIs and 133 walks while hitting .322. He also drew a league-high 133 walks and posted a spectacular 1.159 OPS.
Witt topped the big leagues with a .332 average, hitting 32 homers with 109 RBIs.
With two MVP Awards to his name, Judge is the seventh player in Yankees history to win multiple MVPs. He joins Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Alex Rodriguez.
There was an extended stretch over the summer where Judge was on a pace to reach and possibly break his own single-season home run record (62 in 2022). The same goes for a bid at a Triple Crown.
The stretch that truly defined his season began on April 27. Judge entered play on that day in Milwaukee with a .178 batting average and .674 OPS on the season. He had only four home runs with 35 strikeouts across 27 games.
Over his next 100 games, through August 23, Judge hit .378 with 45 home runs. It was the first time in MLB history a player batted higher than .375 with 45-plus homers in a stretch of 100 games within a single season.
Ohtani was unanimously voted AL MVP in 2021 and 2023 as a two-way star for the Los Angeles Angels and finished second to Judge in 2022 voting. He didn’t pitch in 2024 following elbow surgery and signed a record $700 million, 10-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers last December.
Ohtani hit .310, stole 59 bases and led the NL with 54 homers and 130 RBIs exclusively as a designated hitter, becoming the first player with 50 or more homers and 50 or more stolen bases in a season. He helped the Dodgers to the World Series title, playing the final three games with a torn labrum in his left shoulder.
Ohtani is the first primary DH to win an MVP. He joins Frank Robinson for Cincinnati in 1961 and Baltimore in 1966 as the only players to win the MVP award in both leagues.
The Japanese sensation is the 12th player with three or more MVPs, joining Barry Bonds (seven) and Jimmie Foxx, Joe DiMaggio, Stan Musial, Roy Campanella, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Mike Schmidt, Alex Rodriguez, Albert Pujols and Mike Trout (three each).
Sale, Skubal win MLB's Cy Young Awards
Detroit Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal and Atlanta Braves lefty Chris Sale were each named the winner of their respective league’s Cy Young Award on Wednesday.
The announcement was hardly a surprise after each ace won their league's pitching triple crown during the 2024 regular season.
This is the first Cy Young for both pitchers.
Skubal, who turned 28 on Wednesday, enjoyed a break-out year in his fourth full MLB season, and was a unanimous winner, receiving all 30 first-place votes in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. The Kansas City Royals' Seth Lugo finished second and Cleveland Guardians relief pitcher Emmanuel Clase finished third in the balloting, which was completed before the play-offs.
Sale received 26 of 30 first-place votes, while Philadelphia Phillies right-hander Zack Wheeler finished second, ahead of Pittsburgh Pirates righty Paul Skenes, who was selected as the National League Rookie of the Year on Monday.
The 35-year-old Sale has come close to winning the award before, finishing as runner-up to Cleveland's Corey Kluber in 2017, with five other top-five finishes in voting since his first full season in the majors in 2011.
Since the inception of the Cy Young Award in 1956, there have been 16 pitchers to win his league's pitching crown. And now, every one of them has also won that year's Cy Young.
Skubal and Sale each won an MLB-best 18 games, while Skubal led all pitchers with 228 strikeouts – three more than Sale. Sale's ERA of 2.38 was just a tick better than Skubal's 2.39.
Both were dominant down the stretch in leading their teams to the play-offs, with Sale permitting two earned runs or fewer in each of his final 18 regular-season starts, though he was unable to pitch in the season final or the Braves' NL Wild-Card series loss to the San Diego Padres because of a back injury.
Skubal posted a 1.94 ERA in his final nine outings, and then threw 13 shutout innings in his first two play-off starts in helping the Tigers surprisingly reach the American League Division Series. He ended up going 1-1 with a 2.37 ERA in three post-season starts.
Skubal became the fifth Tiger to win the Cy Young trophy – and first since Max Scherzer in 2017 – and Sale is the fifth Brave to earn the award – and first since Hall of Famer Tom Glavine in 1998.
Despite several close calls in Cy Young voting for Sale, he has dealt with injuries for the past five seasons, and was limited to a total of 151 innings over the past three years for the Boston Red Sox.
In his first season with the Braves, however, he threw 177 2/3 innings and was awarded the NL Comeback Player of the Year Award last Thursday.
Dodgers erase 5-run deficit, beat Yankees to win World Series
The Los Angeles Dodgers won their second World Series championship in five seasons, overcoming a five-run deficit with the help of three Yankees defensive miscues and rallying on sacrifice flies from Gavin Lux and Mookie Betts in the eighth inning to beat New York 7-6 in Game 5 on Wednesday night.
Aaron Judge and Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit back-to-back home runs in the first inning, Alex Verdugo’s RBI single chased Jack Flaherty in the second and Giancarlo Stanton’s third-inning homer against Ryan Brasier built a 5-0 Yankees lead.
But errors by Judge in center and Anthony Volpe at shortstop, combined with pitcher Gerrit Cole failing to cover first on Betts' grounder, helped Los Angeles score five unearned runs in the fifth.
After Stanton’s sixth-inning sacrifice fly put the Yankees back ahead 6-5, the Dodgers loaded the bases against loser Tommy Kahnle in the eighth before the sacrifice flies off Luke Weaver.
Winner Blake Treinen escaped a two-on, one-out jam in the bottom half by retiring Stanton on a flyout and striking out Anthony Rizzo.
Walker Buehler, making his first relief appearance since his rookie season in 2018, pitched a perfect ninth for the save.
Shohei Ohtani, the Dodgers’ record-setting $700 million signing and baseball’s first 50-homer, 50-steal player, went 2 for 19 with no RBIs and had one single after separating his shoulder during a stolen base attempt in Game 2.
Freddie Freeman hit a two-run single to tie the Series record of 12 RBIs, set by Bobby Richardson over seven games in 1960. With the Dodgers one out from losing Friday’s opener, Freeman hit a game-ending grand slam reminiscent of Kirk Gibson’s homer off Oakland’s Dennis Eckersley in 1988’s Game 1 that sparked Los Angeles to the title.
The Dodgers earned their eighth championship and seventh since leaving Brooklyn for Los Angeles - their first in a non-shortened season since 1988. They won a neutral-site World Series against Tampa Bay in 2020 after a 60-game regular season and couldn’t have a parade because of the coronavirus pandemic.
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