Judge and Rice hit back-to-back homers while matching Mantle and Berra as Yankees beat Texas 4-2

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Aaron Judge and Ben Rice had the first back-to-back homers for the Yankees this season, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. also went deep as AL-best New York beat the Texas Rangers 4-2 on Monday night.

Judge matched the big league lead with his 11th homer, a day after also hitting one on his 34th birthday, to make it 3-0 with two outs in the third inning. That came right after Rice’s 10th homer, his sixth in 11 games.

They became the second pair of Yankees teammates to each have 10 or more homers in the first 29 games, joining Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra in 1956.

Max Fried (4-1) scattered four singles over six scoreless innings pitching out of the stretch as the Yankees (19-10) got their 10th win in 12 games. David Bednar, the third reliever, allowed an unearned run in the ninth while getting his eighth save in nine chances when Ezequiel Duran grounded into a forceout with two on.

Texas starter Jack Leiter (1-2) allowed the three homers in six innings.

Pinch-hitter Joc Pederson had a solo homer for Texas in the seventh.

Rice’s two-run shot came a pitch after Trent Grisham reached on a single, the ball deflecting off Leiter’s glove with charging shortstop Corey Seager unable to make a barehand pickup.

Judge, who also had two doubles, followed with a 414-foot drive that landed in the left-field seats not far from the spot he hit his AL season record 62nd homer on Oct. 4, 2022.

After no homers his first 23 games, Chisholm has three in five games. He homered on the first pitch of the fourth.

Fried has allowed no runs in four of seven starts, going at least six innings in each of those scoreless outings.

The left-hander also had the Yankees’ 38th pickoff since 2017, the most by any pitcher in that span. The Yankees have picked off a runner in fourth straight games for the first time since 1995; one of those pitchers 31 years ago was David Cone, who was in the ballpark broadcasting Monday’s game.

Seager, a two-time World Series MVP, went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts on his 32nd birthday.

Up next

Jacob deGrom (2-0, 2.13 ERA) pitches for Texas on Tuesday night, and 25-year-old right-hander Cam Schlittler (3-1, 1.77) goes for New York.

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