NEW YORK — Aaron Judge went homeless for the third straight game, keeping him stuck at 60 for the season, one short of the American League record set by Roger Maris, though the New York Yankees topped Friday 5 -4 to the Boston Red Sox.
Jose Trevino singled in the tiebreaking run with two outs in the eighth inning. The Yankees, leaders of the American League East, reduced their “magic number” of games to five to secure the division title.
The slugger has two games left to match Maris’ mark during the Yankees’ current stay at home, Saturday and Sunday, also against bitter rival Boston.
Afterward, the Yankees travel to Toronto and have just three home games remaining, Sept. 30-Oct. 2 against Baltimore.
Since Tuesday night, when he hit Pittsburgh for the 60th home run of the season, the closest Judge has come to matching the record set by Maris in 1961 was with a drive that carried the ball 404 feet from the plate, right in front of to the center field fence Thursday night.
A night after the Yankees clinched their sixth straight playoff berth, ace Gerrit Cole and manager Aaron Boone were ejected for an argument with plate umpire Brian Knight in the sixth inning.
Nicaraguan Jonathan Loáisiga (2-3) resolved two scoreless chapters, to take the victory, despite allowing a couple of singles with one out in the ninetieth inning.
The loss went to Matt Strahm (3-4).
For the Red Sox, Puerto Rican Kiké Hernández 4-2 with a run scored. The Dominicans Rafael Devers 3-0 with a run scored, Abraham Almonte 1-0. Mexican Alex Verdugo 4-2 with one run scored and three produced.
For the Yankees, Venezuelans Gleyber Torres 3-1 with two RBIs, Oswaldo Cabrera 3-1, Marwin González 3-0 with a run scored.