Yankees win a series at Baltimore, Aaron Judge hits home run No. 34

BALTIMORE – Aaron Judge hoped any hard feelings wouldn’t extend into Saturday, a day after benches cleared at Camden Yards.  

“We’ve gotten quite a few of their guys hit by pitches and they’ve gotten us,’’ Judge said late Friday night, after things “boiled over’’ between the Yankees and Orioles.

“Two good ballclubs, these are two important games’’ before the All-Star break. “I don’t think it will’’ carry into Saturday.

On a sweltering Inner Harbor afternoon it was back to baseball, with Judge making more home run history with No. 34, boosting the Yankees toward their first series victory in a month.

Jumping to a four-run first inning, the Yankees “came out and made a statement,’’ said Judge after a 6-1 victory pulled them into a virtual tie with Baltimore atop the AL East.

And by extending his MLB home run lead, Judge became the first Yankee to reach 34 homers before the All-Star break, besting Roger Maris' 33 in 1961.

Of course, Judge broke Maris' AL single season record with 62 homers in 2022, and there are 65 regular season games to go.

"It's not about personal stats,'' Judge said. "It's about trying to get wins.''

Aaron Judge & Juan Soto go back-to-back at Baltimore

Austin Wells’ three-run homer highlighted that early charge against Baltimore starter Grayson Rodriguez.

"That was the biggest thing, especially after everything that transpired (Friday) night,’’ said Judge, who connected on back-to-back homers with Juan Soto.

Those fifth-inning solo clouts by Soto and Judge – both smashed over 400-feet to center – traveled a combined, estimated 857 feet.

Before the game, Soto was going over a new post-homer handshake routine with Judge, and “we were trying to do it a couple of times today,’’ said Soto.

Moving past the Friday night melee

Friday night’s ninth inning, bench-clearing incident was triggered by Clay Holmes’ wayward, 97-mph sinker that struck Baltimore’s Heston Kjerstad in the helmet.

Scratched from the Orioles’ original Saturday lineup, Kjerstad was placed on the 7-day concussion protocol list.

Orioles’ manager Brandon Hyde was particularly fired up Friday night, due to concern over Kjerstad and his comments that players or personnel the Yankees dugout were waving and yelling at him.

Before Saturday’s game, Yankees manager Aaron Boone said he’d spoken with Hyde about the incident but did not go into any details.

Nothing suspicious occurred during Saturday’s game, but the O’s (57-38) have now lost five straight, while the Yankees (58-39) ended a brutal stretch – going 0-7-1 in their previous eight series.

The last time the Yanks had won any series was June 10-13 against the Royals at Yankee Stadium.

From there, Boone's club dropped two series to the Red Sox, and one each to the Orioles, Braves, Mets, Reds and Rays, with a split against the Blue Jays.

"It's always great to win a series,'' said Soto, whose 426-foot liner over the center field wall preceded Judge's towering, 431-foot shot in the fifth. "We needed it big-time, to bounce back.''

Austin Wells' prediction for Aaron Judge

Now armed with an improved slider to go with his electric fastball and mature changeup, Luis Gil turned in his second strong start after four clunkers, limiting the O’s to a run over six innings.

And the lately improving Yankees bullpen received two scoreless innings from Tim Hill, and one by Jake Cousins.

Meanwhile, the Orioles have scored just two runs over their last four games, while the Yankees are starting to find their swagger.

Wells said that he predicted to a teammate some weeks ago that Judge would arrive at the All-Star break with 34 homers and 85 RBI.

That’s exactly where Judge stands right now, with one more game before Judge, Soto and Holmes travel to Texas for Tuesday’s All-Star Game.

“That is unbelievable,’’ said Wells of Judge’s stats. “Getting to be in the dugout and watching him do that, I can’t put it into words.’’

Judge gave an assist to Soto, naturally.

“It’s fun to hit behind him, and see what he does,’’ said Judge, mentioning an aching right hand that continues to bother Soto, who also doubled Saturday (as did Judge).

“To still go out there and to drive the ball the way (Soto) does,’’ with a sore hand, “he’s one of a kind.’’