Aaron Judge took sole possession of fourth place on the New York Yankees’ all-time home run list and Luis Gil pitched six no-hit innings in a 4-1 win over the host Boston Red Sox in Friday’s three-game series opener.
Judge crushed his 362nd career homer 468 feet out to deep center with one out in the top of the first, giving the Yankees (82-65) a lead that they would never relinquish. He passed Joe DiMaggio and trails only Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle and Lou Gehrig on the franchise list.
Gil (4-1) struck out four while pitching around traffic in four of his six innings, including four walks.
Fernando Cruz struck out the first two batters he faced in relief of Gil, but Nate Eaton lined a two-out solo shot — his first of the season — to left for the first of just two hits for the Red Sox (81-67).
Devin Williams and David Bednar each pitched a scoreless inning to finalize the win. Bednar struck out two in the ninth for his 23rd save.
Massachusetts native Ben Rice was 2-for-3 with an RBI for New York. Jazz Chisholm Jr. also had two hits and stole two bases.
After Judge’s early homer off Red Sox starter Lucas Giolito (10-4), the Yankees ran themselves out of the second as Boston catcher Carlos Narvaez caught Chisholm attempting to swipe third.
In the third, though, the visitors caught a break when Rice reached via catcher’s interference on what appeared to be an inning-ending fly ball to left. Cody Bellinger made the Red Sox pay, hitting a run-scoring single over shortstop.
Gil worked out of his biggest jam in a fifth inning which started with Narvaez and David Hamilton drawing back-to-back walks. After a wild pitch and a balk moved the runners up to second and third, the New York righty retired three straight to keep a zero on the board.
Giolito allowed two runs (one earned) on five hits and one walk with six strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings.
The Yankees added two key insurance runs in the seventh off reliever Justin Wilson.
Jose Caballero hit a one-out double and stole third before scoring on Ryan McMahon’s fielder’s choice. Hamilton dove to stop the hard liner, but Narvaez was unable to handle a bounced throw. Hamilton was charged with an error.
After a two-out intentional walk to Judge two batters later, Rice stung an RBI single to center to up the lead. Eaton’s arm kept Chisholm from scoring another run, starting a 9-2 double play on a Caballero fly ball to end the threat.
