Aaron Judge breaks scoreless ties with walk-off home run as Yankees defeat first-place Rays

Aaron Judge picked a good time to break his home run drought.

With his New York Yankees locked in a scoreless tie against first-place Tampa Bay on Sunday, Judge took the plate with a man on and no outs against Rays reliever Kevin Kelly. Kelly had previously allowed Trent Grisham to reach first on a leadoff walk.

Kelly left a first-pitch sinker over the inside of the plate, and Judge made him pay. Judge launched a towering opposite-field fly ball that carried over the right field wall for a walk-off home run to secure a 2-0 Yankees win.

The home run for Judge was his 17th of the season, good for a second-place tie lead with slugging White Sox rookie Munetaka Murakami, three behind MLB home run leader Kyle Schwarber (20). It was his first since May 10 against the Brewers, breaking an 11-game drought.

And it picked up a key win for the Yankees, who entered Sunday’s game trailing the first-place Rays in the AL East by 5.5 games. That lead’s now down to 4.5 games as the Yankees (31-22) come away from the weekend series against Tampa Bay (34-16) with a 1-1 split after the Rays’ 4-2 win Friday night. The second game of the series scheduled for Saturday was postponed to September due to weather.

Judge’s home run spoils a standout start by Rays starter Drew Rasmussen, who allowed 5 hits and 1 walk with 6 strikeouts in 7 innings his scoreless start. Yankees starter Ryan Weathers wasn’t credited with the win in his own seven-inning gem (4 hits, 3 walks, 4 strikeouts, 0 runs allowed), but he set up New York for victory.