David Lennon: Yankees return to old selves with 14-hit, five-HR outburst vs. Angels
Yankees rightfielder Aaron Judge hits a two-run home run against the Los Angeles Angels during the first inning of an MLB game at Yankee Stadium on Monday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The names are the same from a year ago. But the numbers? Before Monday night’s return to the Bronx, mired in a five-game losing streak, the Yankees’ plate production was nowhere near what general manager Brian Cashman envisioned for his run-it-back roster, which had been a pinstripe imposter of the 2025 mashers who wrecked the majors last season.
Cashman’s logic was mostly sound. Why not keep the band together after leading the sport in nearly every offensive category? It was a supporting cast who worked well with Aaron Judge, so just sit back and enjoy the sequel, right?
Well, not exactly. Getting shut down by the A’s at home was a sobering experience, followed by a Rays’ sweep at Tropicana Field that defied explanation. Then came Monday night. Was it the 77 degrees at first pitch? A suspect Angels’ pitching staff? The law of averages?
All three of those factors probably played a role. But the bottom line is that the Yankees finally flexed like the Yankees again — at least when holding a bat in their hands — and Judge was back doing Judge things, as everyone expected, sooner rather than later.
Judge and Mike Trout both went deep twice in a duel of three-time MVPs, each giving their team late-inning, tiebreaking leads. Trent Grisham muscled in on that party, too, also slugging a pair of homers, the second tying the score in the ninth before Jordan Romano’s wild pitch — with Ryan McMahon at the plate — ultimately delivered the Yankees’ 11-10 victory, snapping their five-game losing streak.
The Yankees had a season-high 14 hits, yet didn’t even need one to deliver the winning run. McMahon, who entered Monday batting .114, got one strike overturned on an ABS challenge, then later fouled off three two-strike pitches before Romano skipped ball four past the plate, allowing Jose Caballero to cruise in from third base.
“You play 162 games, you’re going to have a couple like this,” Judge said. “You can flip a coin and half these games go the other way and you end up losing. But just happy to come out with a win. We could have got down, could have got upset how things happened. But the boys stayed locked in all night.”
Judge entered Monday hitting .218 — not a misprint — and his 19 strikeouts were a team high, not the type of leadership he’s relied on to provide. Any sensible baseball observer knew it wouldn’t last, and the Angels were unlucky enough to be in New York for the first official Judge Night of the season.
His first homer was a two-run shot off Angels starter Yusei Kikuchi in the first inning and then Judge later dented reliever Shaun Anderson for a go-ahead solo blast in the sixth. It was his 47th multi-homer game, passing Mickey Mantle on the Yankees’ all-time list and trailing only Babe Ruth, who leads the franchise with 68 but also is tops overall in the majors with 72.
They were a pair of scenic blasts, too. Judge’s opening rocket, with a sizzling 116-mph exit velo, sailed 456 feet into the second section of the leftfield bleachers. The encore was a pulled 398-foot rainbow (111.4 mph) that touched down in the second deck.
“Huge,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Hopefully, you’re starting to see him kind of lock in here as we get rolling. Obviously, I don’t need to tell you what he means to our offense.”
The Anderson shot almost felt personal, as the Angels reliever rifled a fastball past his head in the fourth inning, drawing a wide-eyed stare from Judge. He whiffed on the next pitch, but got his payback in the sixth, after Anderson buzzed him again, this time under the chin. Two pitches later, Judge walloped an 83-mph changeup into the seats.
In addition to Judge’s revenge, the Yankees got some measure of relief after laboring through a 15-game stretch when they batted a collective .202 (third-worst in MLB) with a .653 OPS (25th overall). During the five-game losing streak, they scored a total of 13 runs.
On Monday night, there was redemption everywhere in the lineup, even coming off the bench. Grisham, batting .133 with zero homers, didn’t get the start against the lefty Kikuchi. But his pinch-hit, three-run homer off Anderson in the fifth inning snapped a tie at 4. In the ninth, after Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s leadoff single, Grisham smoked a 3-and-1 slider into the rightfield seats to even the score again at 10.
“I think it says a lot about the guys, just to be able to stay in it,” Grisham said. “Throwing punches back and forth all night, long game, a lot of runs scored. To stand there and fight, staying in there the whole time, was good to see.”
Grisham needed this night bad. Last year, he was one of baseball’s best bargains, smashing 34 homers with an .811 OPS for a paltry $5 million price tag. While Cashman gambled that Grisham would try to parlay that into a multiyear deal, he was more than happy staying in the Bronx for an almost 500% raise. It’s a win-win for Grisham, but the Yankees are relying on that pop again, and with a few big swings Monday night, he’s starting to make up some ground on last year’s pace.
Perhaps most important, the Yankees looked more like themselves, too.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.