Yankees Secure Victory with Home Runs from Judge and Rice

ARLINGTON, Texas — Aaron Judge holds a notable place in the Yankees’ history, often showing up just behind the legends in their record books.

This time, he’s sharing the spotlight with Ben Rice.

Judge and Rice both hit home runs in their third consecutive game, which helped propel the Yankees to a 4-2 win over the Rangers at Globe Life Field.

As reported by MLB.com’s Sarah Langs, Rice’s homer was his 10th of the season, while Judge recorded his 11th. Together, they became the second pair of Yankees teammates to achieve over 10 home runs within the first 29 games of a season. The first duo was Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle back in 1956.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. also contributed a home run. Plus, Max Fried pitched six shutout innings, leading the Yankees (19-10) to a ninth win in their last ten games.

Judge’s lineup of impressive performances, which also included two doubles and being hit by a pitch on the elbow, lifted his OPS to 1.010—though he’s still behind Rice’s impressive 1.191.

Rice launched a two-run homer off Jack Leiter in the third inning, briefly tying with Judge for the team’s lead in home runs.

The first baseman showcased remarkable power with a 404-foot shot towards left field, marking his sixth homer in the last 11 games.

Then, Judge came back with a 414-foot hit at 113 mph, landing in the same area where he smashed his record-setting 62nd home run last season.

With that hit, he tied Orlando Cepeda and Tony Perez, now sharing the 75th spot with 379 career home runs.

A short while later, Chisholm joined the fun, hitting his third home run in five games after starting the season without any in his first 23 games, pushing the Yankees’ lead to 4-0.

Interestingly, this marked the third time in four games that the Yankees managed to score three or more home runs.

In total, the trio has contributed to the Yankees hitting 32 homers in the past 14 games, quite the turnaround from just 14 in the initial 15 games of the season.

Fried’s performance was strong, needing just the right amount of support from the offense to secure his fourth shutout in seven starts thus far.

After having pitched eight shutout innings against the Red Sox, Fried held the Rangers (14-15) scoreless for six innings, allowing four singles and two walks while striking out five.

Fried showcased his skills by picking off Josh Jung in the fourth inning, continuing a streak where a Yankees pitcher has recorded a pickoff for four straight games—something not seen in the franchise since 1995 with pitchers like Jack McDowell and David Cohn.

Camilo Doval replaced Fried in the seventh inning but allowed a home run by pinch hitter Joc Pederson, breaking the shutout and making the score 4-1.

Tim Hill managed to avoid any walks in the eighth inning, while in the ninth, David Bednar, despite shaky defense, secured his eighth save of the year, allowing one unearned run.