ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Aaron Judge hit his second homer of the game leading off the 11th inning, Brett Gardner added a three-run shot, and the Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 8-4, on Friday night.
Judge connected on the first pitch from Ryne Stanek (0-2) to give him nine career multihomer games. Judge also went deep in the first against the two-way player Brendan McKay as the Yankees extended their lead in the American League East over Tampa Bay to a season-high eight and a half games.
Aaron Hicks tied it in the eighth with a pinch-hit homer for the Yankees, who used a five-run 10th to beat the Rays 8-4 on Thursday in the opener of a four-game series.
David Hale (2-0) left with two on and one out in the 11th. Aroldis Chapman, who blew a two-run lead in the ninth Thursday, walked Travis d’Arnaud with two outs but got a lineout from Tommy Pham to get his 24th save.
Masahiro Tanaka, who entered 2-0 with an 0.41 earned run average in three starts against the Rays this season, was charged with four runs and six hits in six and a third innings.
McKay, a left-hander, allowed three runs and six hits over five innings in his second pitching start. He gave up one hit in six scoreless innings in his big league debut last Saturday, a win over Texas.
Nate Lowe hit his first major league homer and Mike Zunino also went deep for the Rays.
After replacing Tanaka with runners on first and third, Nestor Cortes Jr. gave up a two-run single to Kevin Kiermaier that gave Tampa Bay a 4-3 lead.
Hicks got the Yankees even in the eighth.
Judge, who faced McKay while on a rehab assignment for an oblique injury June 15 with Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre against Durham, hit a hard grounder that just missed the McKay’s leg in the fourth. Judge struck out swinging on a 93-mile-an-hour fastball from McKay with two on to end the fifth.
McKay got a grounder from Judge and struck him out in the minor league game.
Inside Pitch
C. C. Sabathia will be honored by Major League Baseball at Tuesday night’s All-Star Game in Cleveland. In the final season of his 19-year career, Sabathia will be recognized for his contributions to the game and longtime service to the community. “This is awesome,” said Sabathia, who started his big league career with the Indians in 2001.