– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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NEW YORK — While the New York Yankees would have liked Giancarlo Stanton’s latest fireworks display to have come in one week’s time, during the most crucial time of the year, they’re more than happy to have the next best thing from their X-factor: preparing for the postseason by mashing the baseball and giving the potential MVP of the league some much-needed protection.
Stanton crushed two home runs in his first two at-bats, including a 450-foot blast in the third inning, to lead the Yankees to an 8-4 victory over the Baltimore Orioles inside Yankee Stadium on Friday night. Judge also went deep in the third inning, a couple of batters before Stanton’s tape-measure shot, his 52nd home run of the season and one last salvo on his way to the American League batting title.
The Yankees remain tied for first place in the American League East with Toronto after the Blue Jays defeated Tampa Bay 4-2. Toronto holds the tiebreaker, so New York would have to gain a game on the Blue Jays over the next two days to win the division and secure a bye into the Division Series.
A return to the World Series, where the Yankees’ 2024 season ended at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers, may be contingent on the temperature of Stanton’s bat (as well as his health), as evidenced by last year’s American League Championship Series against Cleveland where he hit four home runs on his way to winning MVP of the LCS. Stanton’s 2025 didn’t start until June, missing the first two-plus months of the season due to tendonitis in both elbows, and though he’s been playing catch-up all season as New York has had its ups and downs without him, the slugger managed to crank out his 14thth career round-tripper six days ago in Baltimore.
Stanton added to those career totals tonight against, arguably, the hottest pitcher in baseball, Baltimore’s Trevor Rogers, who came into the game with a 9-2 record with an ERA under two in 17 games this season. In the first, Stanton took a fastball the other way to right field and over the wall for a two-run shot and a 2-0 Yankees lead.
In the third inning, Judge also took Rogers deep, to deep left-center field that gave New York the lead for good at 4-3. Two batters later, after Cody Bellinger reached base, Stanton launched a massive shot that sailed over the bullpen in left-center field and into the stands, giving New York a three-run lead.
Will Warren went five innings for the Yankees while allowing just one earned run (four total) while striking out seven.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Friday evening’s game, with photos taken by staff photographer Chris Gonzalez. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page. Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There is one picture in total.
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