Judge’s tiebreaking homer in 2nd game leads Yankees to doubleheader sweep of Blue Jays

NEW YORK (AP) — Aaron Judge broke a sixth-inning tie in the second game with his eighth home run this season, and the New York Yankees swept a doubleheader from the Toronto Blue Jays 11-2 and 5-1 on Sunday.

Playing one day after his 33rd birthday, Judge drove a first-pitch cutter from Chris Bassitt (2-2) to the opposite field and into the right-field stands for a 2-1 lead. Judge was 3-for-8 in the doubleheader. He leads the major leagues with a .406 batting average and is second with 27 RBIs.

Trent Grisham led off the first with his seventh home run. Bassitt had not allowed a homer in 28 2/3 innings this year coming in.

J.C. Escarra hit his first big league homer in the eighth off Chad Green. Escarra singled home a run against Brendon Little in the three-run sixth following Jasson Domínguez’s RBI double that chased Bassitt.

Anthony Santander homered in the third, the only hit Clarke Schmidt allowed over five innings in his third outing since recovering from right rotator cuff tendinitis.

New York Yankees’ Trent Grisham scores after hitting a home run during the first inning of the second baseball game of a doubleheader against the Toronto Blue Jays, Sunday, April 27, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

Tim Hill (3-0) pitched a one-hit sixth. Luke Weaver, making his first appearance since taking over from a struggling Devin Williams as the Yankees closer, got three straight outs to finish a three-hitter.

Grisham hit his sixth career leadoff home run and second this year. The Yankees have a big league-high five leadoff homers. Paul Goldschmidt, Ben Rice and Austin Wells have one each.

KEY MOMENT

Judge ended a nine-game homerless streak.

KEY STAT

New York Yankees’ Clarke Schmidt pitches during the second inning of the second baseball game of a doubleheader against the Toronto Blue Jays, Sunday, April 27, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

Since starting the 2024 season hitting .178 with four homers and nine RBIs through April 26, Judge is batting .363 with 62 homers and 158 RBIs in 159 games.

UP NEXT

Blue Jays: RHP Bowden Francis (2-3, 5.38 ERA) starts a homestand opener Tuesday against the Boston Red Sox and LHP Garrett Crochet (2-2, 1.95).

Yankees: RHP Will Warren (1-0, 4.79 ERA) starts Monday night’s series opener at Baltimore and Orioles’ RHP Tomoyuki Sugano (2-1, 3.54).