Aaron Judge ties Joe DiMaggio in Yankees’ 9-3 win over Tigers

NEW YORK (AP) — Aaron Judge hit two home runs to tie Hall of Fame outfielder Joe DiMaggio for fourth place in Yankees history as New York beat the Detroit Tigers 9-3 on Thursday night to avert a three-game sweep.

On the 24th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, President Donald Trump attended the game and watched from a suite on the third base side.

Judge homered off Tyler Holton (5-5) in the first inning and matched DiMaggio by launching his 361st career homer with a 434-foot drive to the back of the Detroit bullpen off Sawyer Gipson-Long in the third.

Judge had his sixth multihomer game this season and pulled even with DiMaggio two nights after passing Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra for fifth on the franchise list.

The two-time AL MVP had three hits and ended the night with a major league-best .322 batting average, three points ahead of Athletics rookie shortstop Jacob Wilson.

Giancarlo Stanton followed Judge’s second solo shot with his 449th homer, tying Hall of Famers Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Jeff Bagwell for 41st on the career list.

Including the postseason, it was the 56th time Judge and Stanton homered in the same game and fifth time this season.

Ben Rice hit an RBI double and José Caballero, Austin Slater, Cody Bellinger and Jazz Chisholm Jr. had run-scoring singles as the Yankees moved a half-game ahead of Boston for the top American League wild card heading into a three-game series at Fenway Park this weekend.

New York rookie Cam Schlittler (3-3) bounced back from his worst start and allowed one run on three hits in six innings.

BLUE JAYS 6, ASTROS 0

TORONTO (AP) — Kevin Gausman pitched a two-hitter for his fourth career complete game, Davis Schneider homered and drove in two and Toronto beat struggling Houston.

The AL East-leading Blue Jays improved to 47-25 at home and 63-4 when they score five or more.

Gausman (10-10) struck out nine and walked one. The crowd of 41,224 rose for a standing ovation when he came out for the ninth. He threw 100 pitches, 79 strikes.

Gausman retired the final 17 batters he faced, six of them by strikeout. Both hits he allowed were singles. Jeremy Peña had a leadoff hit in the fourth and advanced to third on a one-out single by Carlos Correa. Gausman escaped by getting Jose Altuve to pop up and striking out Jesús Sánchez.

The AL West-leading Astros have lost four straight series, going 4-8 against the Angels, Yankees, Rangers and Blue Jays.

George Springer led off the first with an infield single and scored when Nathan Lukes doubled off the left-field wall.

Lukes advanced on a grounder and scored when Barger’s double got lost in the sun and fell in front of right fielder Sánchez.

Schneider made it 3-0 with a leadoff homer in the second, his 11th.

Daulton Varsho tripled to begin the fourth and scored on Schneider’s sacrifice fly.

Houston’s Cristian Javier (1-3) allowed four runs and six hits in six innings, his second straight losing start.

ORIOLES 3, PIRATES 2

BALTIMORE (AP) — Rookie Dylan Beavers drove in the winning run for a second straight day, and Baltimore won to finish a three-game sweep and hand Pittsburgh its sixth straight loss.

Jackson Holliday singled and stole his 16th base to lead off the seventh against Colin Holderman (0-2). Gunnar Henderson was walked intentionally with one out and Holderman left after striking out Emmanuel Rivera.

Evan Sisk entered and Beavers singled on a 3-2 pitch for a 3-2 lead. Beavers singled in the winning run in the 10th inning for a 2-1 victory on Wednesday.

Jared Triolo singled to lead off the first against Cade Povich before scoring on a two-out base hit by Nick Gonzales to put the Pirates up 1-0.

Jeremiah Jackson had a one-out single off Johan Oviedo in the Orioles’ first and Henderson followed with his career-high 31st double. Rivera tied it 1-1 with a groundout.

Colton Cowser drew a leadoff walk in the second, stole his 10th base and scored on a two-out single by Coby Mayo to put the Orioles up 2-1.

WHITE SOX 5, RAYS 1

CHICAGO (AP) — Colson Montgomery and Kyle Teel drove in two runs each to back 5 2/3 scoreless innings from fellow rookie Shane Smith, and Chicago beat Tampa Bay in the rubber game of the series.

Chase Meidroth led off the first with a single off Ian Seymour and Curtis Mead’s double moved him to third. Montgomery drove in both with a one-out single. Teel had a two-run pinch hit single in the sixth for a 5-0 lead, extending his on-base streak to 20 games.

Smith (6-7) allowed four hits and a walk in his 26th start. Tyler Alexander surrendered Junior Caminero’s RBI groundout in the eighth for the Rays’ only run. Jordan Leasure pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his eighth save.

Michael A. Taylor had an RBI single before Teel’s base hit in the three-run sixth.

Seymour (3-2) gave up three runs on five hits and two walks in 5 1/3 innings. Joey Gerber struck out two in two perfect innings in his first appearance in 1,811 days. Gerber last pitched on Sept. 27, 2020, when he made 17 appearances for the Mariners in his only season.

The Rays (72-74) have lost five of six following a seven-game win streak.

MARLINS 5, NATIONALS 0

MIAMI (AP) — Eric Wagaman had three hits and drove three runs, Ryan Weathers allowed five hits and struck out four over five innings in his first appearance in three months, and Miami beat Washington.

Weathers (2-1), who had been sidelined since June 7 with a left lat strain, was activated from the injured list on Thursday.

Rookie Jakob Marsee doubled and singled for the Marlins, who split the four-game set and won the season series against their NL East opponent, 7-6.

Miami scored quickly against Washington starter MacKenzie Gore (5-14) on Heriberto Hernández’s sacrifice fly and Wagaman’s RBI single in the first.

Wagaman hit a two-run double and scored on Joey Wiemer’s sacrifice fly in the eighth.

Tyler Phillips followed Weathers with two innings of relief before Ronny Henriquez and Michael Petersen pitched an inning each to complete the shutout.

PHILLIES 6, METS 4

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jesús Luzardo retired 22 straight batters after giving up four runs in the first inning, and Philadelphia stormed back to beat reeling New York to complete a four-game sweep.

Otto Kemp homered and had three RBIs for the Phillies, who have won eight of 10 overall and are poised to secure their second straight division title. The victory pushed their NL East lead over the Mets to 11 games with 15 to play, and they could clinch this weekend against Kansas City.

New York dropped the last six games of a 3-7 road trip, trimming its lead over Cincinnati and San Francisco to 1 1/2 games for the final National League wild card.

Luzardo (14-6) fell behind 4-0 in the first but did not allow a baserunner over the next seven innings. Jhoan Duran struck out all three batters in the ninth for his 29th save, as the final 25 Mets batters were retired.

GUARDIANS 3, ROYALS 2

CLEVELAND (AP) — Rookie C.J. Kayfus hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning as Cleveland rallied for a victory over Kansas City.

Cleveland (75-71) has won six of seven and took three of four in the series against its AL Central rival as it tries to stay in contention for the final AL wild card spot.

The Guardians trail Seattle by three games with 15 games remaining.

Kansas City’s Vinnie Pasquantino became the fourth left-handed batter in Royals history to record 30 home runs in a season with a two-run drive in the first inning. The last Royals lefty batter to reach the mark was Mike Moustakas with 38 in 2017. The others were John Mayberry (34 in 1975) and Hall of Famer George Brett (30 in 1985).

The Royals (74-73) have gone 4-6 in their last 10 games and are 4 1/2 games back for the final wild card.

Guardians’ catcher Bo Naylor led off the eighth with a base hit to right field. Kayfus followed with a towering 425-foot drive to right-center on a low fastball on a 1-0 count from John Schreiber (3-3) for his third homer of the season.

Matt Festa (4-3) got the win with a scoreless eighth inning. Cade Smith hit Jonathan India with a fastball to lead off the ninth and then retired the next three batters for his 13th save.

PADRES 2, ROCKIES 0

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Jackson Merrill homered and Randy Vásquez struck out a career-high nine in six strong innings for San Diego, who beat last-place Colorado to open a four-game series.

The Padres pulled within 2 1/2 games of the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West and opened a four-game lead over the New York Mets for the second of three National League wild cards.

The Padres were coming off a home series loss to Cincinnati and won for just the fourth time in 11 games. They have the easiest remaining schedule among playoff contenders but dropped consecutive series to Minnesota and Baltimore before taking two of three at Colorado last weekend.

Merrill hit an opposite-field shot to left off McCade Brown (0-4) with two outs in the fourth. His 11th homer of the season gave San Diego a 2-0 lead.

Luis Arraez singled home Freddy Fermin in the third.

Vásquez (5-6) held the Rockies to four hits and walked none. His previous strikeout high was six, accomplished four times.

MARINERS 7, ANGELS 6, 12 INNINGS

SEATTLE (AP) — Rookie pinch-hitter Harry Ford drove in the winning run with a sacrifice fly in the 12th inning and Seattle beat Los Angeles to move into a tie with Houston atop the AL West.

It was the second straight walk-off victory in extra innings for the Mariners, who extended their win streak to six games. Leo Rivas hit a two-run homer in the 13th inning Wednesday night to complete a series sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Seattle became the first team to play consecutive games that lasted at least 12 innings since Major League Baseball introduced the automatic runner for extra innings in 2020.

Mike Trout launched his 399th career home run for the Angels, tying it 4-all in the fifth inning after they fell behind 4-0 in the second.

J.P. Crawford had three RBIs for the Mariners, including a tying single in the 11th.