Aaron Judge, Anthony Volpe, Giancarlo Stanton hit home runs as Yankees rout Twins
Giancarlo Stanton of the Yankees celebrates his fifth-inning home run against the Minnesota Twins at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
A pair of wins over the listing Twins does not mean the Yankees’ two-month malaise is over. But after seeing their performance on Tuesday night, it would be hard to argue that things haven’t begun to stir for them.
Aaron Judge hit his first home run since July 23, starter Carlos Rodon shook off a stretch of four consecutive substandard pitching performances with seven innings of one-hit brilliance and the Yankees made no errors in the field or on the bases as they sailed to a 9-1 victory over the Twins on Tuesday night before 37,552 at the Stadium.
Giancarlo Stanton remained red hot at the plate with a mammoth 447-foot solo home run in the fifth inning before capping a 4-for-5 night with a two-run single in the seventh. Over his last 27 games, Stanton has an 1.136 OPS with 11 home runs and 27 RBIs.
And Anthony Volpe hit a three-run home run.
The triumph gives the Yankees (64-56) back-to-back victories for the first time in August and maintained their one-game lead over the Guardians for the third and final AL wild-card spot.
“We have, what, 42 games left?” said Rodon (12-7), who teamed with Tim Hill and Yerry de los Santos for the one-hitter. “So it’s definitely go-time. Just win every game you can.”
Rodon seemed to turn the page on four straight bad starts since the All-Star break in which he had a 4.95 ERA, didn’t go more than 5 1/3 innings in any of them and issued 15 walks and allowed four home runs in 20 innings.
It didn’t look like it would go that way when the first three Minnesota batters reached base before he escaped with only one run in the first inning but he threw 31 pitches. He didn’t need more than 13 pitches in any of his last six frames and finished the 96-pitch effort with two walks issued, one hit batter and five strikeouts.
Few things correlate with a Yankees victory like Judge and Stanton hitting home runs in the same game. This was the 54th time it’s happened (including the playoffs) and the club is 47-7 when it does.
Performances such as this one Tuesday — and perhaps the key to shaking off the Yankees’ malaise — may be keeping Judge and Stanton in the lineup. That looked like a heavy lift when Judge was diagnosed with a flexor strain in his right elbow in late July, went on the IL and it was decided that when he returned, he would be restricted from throwing and only be a DH.
Stanton missed the first 70 games of the season with strains in both elbows and had been the full-time DH but, to keep them both in the lineup, Stanton picked up a glove and went back to playing the outfield for the first time since Sept. 14, 2023.
“[Stanton] wants to win, so he’s willing to do anything,” Rodon said. “So him and Judge in the lineup: we needed those. Those two bats are big threats,”
“For him in just a couple days to come back and [say] ‘I’ll man rightfield for a little bit’ ... it just speaks volumes to his leadership and you know what he means to this team,” Judge said. “And now it’s about what we can do to put the best team out there on the field.”
Stanton said before the game: “I’m having fun. It’s a challenge. It’s stimulating. It’s definitely a challenge of making sure I’ve over-thought every scenario and understood the plays [to make] before they happen and being engaged.”
And he said that the recovery from a day in the outfield is more extensive than playing DH, but Boone felt that Stanton has handled the rigors well enough that he was in rightfield three of the last four games.
“To have [Stanton] in the lineup the way he’s going right now, I feel like he’s looked very solid out there and I think he’s feeling good about it,” Boone said. “That said, I don’t want to do it too long. I’d like to flip those two guys at some point here, but the fact that G is doing it and flourishing here is great.”
Judge has begun a throwing program, but there is no timetable for him to return to the outfield.
Boone said Stanton recognized right away that with either him or Judge relegated to being a pinch hitter was not optimal.
“He knows it’s important to the club, so he started working hard at it to prepare for this and ... give us that option,” Boone said. “So [we’re] super appreciative of him because G is about winning and that’s all he really cares about and he knows there’s things you’ve got to sacrifice along the way and he’s been willing to do that.”
Stanton responded to the word “sacrifice” by saying: “I don’t look at it like that. You get dealt cards and you have to figure out how to play in the best way. This is the scenario we’re in and this game is about adapting and you can’t be around for a long time if you don’t.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
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