Aaron Judge is back, and so are the Yankees.
The slumping slugger came through with a game-winning two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth Sunday in a 2-0 win over the Rays on a wet, chilly day in The Bronx.
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Try it freeThe Yankees entered having dropped three straight — and scoring a total of three runs in that stretch — with Judge in the midst of a 1-for-24 funk.
But Trent Grisham led off the bottom of the ninth with a walk and was replaced by pinch runner Max Schuemann.
Judge followed with an opposite-field shot to right field off Kevin Kelly to end it, as the Yankees cut the Rays’ AL East lead over them to 4 ½ games.
“We were able to grind out a win,’’ Ryan Weathers said. “It ended with a bang.”
The blast, Judge’s fourth walk-off homer since 2022, broke an 11-game drought in which he hadn’t homered or driven in a run.
It was the longest stretch of his career without an RBI.
“There was no frustration,’’ Judge said of his struggles. “I’ve got a job to do. Obviously, I want to get the job done and help the team win. We weren’t winning and I was mad about that, [but] you can find other ways to help.”
The best way for Judge, though, is to do what he did Sunday, as the Yankees had dropped 10 of their previous 14 games to fall behind Tampa Bay in the standings.
The Yankees got seven scoreless innings from Weathers, as the left-hander bounced back from a tough start against Toronto.
Weathers was locked in a duel with Tampa Bay right-hander Drew Rasmussen, who also pitched seven shutout innings after blanking the Yankees for six innings April 12.
Tampa Bay threatened in the third, with runners on the corners and one out.
Weathers got Junior Caminero to hit into an inning-ending double play and allowed just a pair of walks the rest of the way before being replaced by Fernando Cruz to start the eighth.
Cruz gave up a one-out double to Yandy Díaz, and Jonathan Aranda followed with a liner to right-center, where Judge made a great diving catch.
An intentional walk to Caminero led to Ryan Vilade’s single to left.
Pinch runner Oliver Dunn seemed set to score the go-ahead run, but Cody Bellinger alertly threw to third base in time to get Caminero before Dunn reached the plate, keeping the game scoreless.
Tim Hill struck out Richie Palacios to strand two runners and Judge won it in the bottom of the inning.
Prior to the game, manager Aaron Boone said, “It’s been a crappy couple weeks for us, result-wise, but I feel like we’re in a good place team-wise. I feel we have a good run in us here.”
Perhaps it began Sunday, as they open a three-game series in Kansas City on Monday after sweeping the Royals in The Bronx last month.
And Judge getting back to hitting home runs would make a difference.
He has 17 on the season.
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“You know it’s just waiting to come out at any point,’’ Boone said of a Judge breakout. “He put a great swing on it and was able to ride it out of here.”
The ending allowed the Yankees to finish the homestand 3-3, with a chance to get going again.
“We’re doing a lot of really good things,’’ Boone said. “That’s why I feel so good about this group having the ability to take off. We’ve got to start moving that needle offensively a little bit. Hopefully that’s something that gets us started and we go have a successful road trip.”