Judge’s record homer and Gil’s six no-hit innings lift Yankees to 4-1 win at Fenway
Aaron Judge passed Joe DiMaggio with a 442-foot first-inning shot as Luis Gil carried a no-hit bid into the seventh in New York’s wild-card push
BOSTON — Aaron Judge passed Joe DiMaggio on the Yankees’ all-time home run list and Luis Gil flirted with history as New York beat the Boston Red Sox 4-1 on Friday night at Fenway Park.
Judge’s 442-foot first-inning home run, his 362nd career long ball, gave the Yankees an early lead and became a key moment in a victory that also featured six dominant no-hit innings by rookie right-hander Luis Gil. The win moved New York (82-65) a game up on Boston (81-67) in the American League wild-card race with 15 games remaining in the regular season.
Gil worked six scoreless, no-hit innings, walking four and working deep counts that pushed him to 93 pitches. The right-hander’s control kept Boston hitters off balance through the sixth, but the combined no-hit bid ended with two outs in the seventh when Nate Eaton belted a first-pitch homer off reliever Fernando Cruz over the Green Monster.
After Gil departed, the Yankees bullpen held firm. Devin Williams escaped trouble in the eighth after a leadoff single and David Bednar struck out two in the ninth to notch the save.
Judge’s homer left the park and landed on Lansdowne Street, giving him sole possession of fourth place on the Yankees’ career list. It was his fourth home run in four games and his 47th of the season. Nineteen of those homers have come in the first inning, a single-season major league record.
The Yankees added an insurance run in the third inning after a play that initially seemed to end the frame. With two outs and Aaron Judge aboard on a walk, Ben Rice hit a fly to left that appeared to be the third out, but Boston catcher Carlos Narváez was ruled to have committed catcher’s interference. Rice remained at first and Cody Bellinger followed with an 0-2 pitch driven up the middle for an RBI single, making it 2-0.
New York extended the lead in the seventh with a sequence that highlighted small-ball and speed. José Caballero, starting at shortstop, drilled a one-out ground-rule double to right, stole third on the first pitch to Ryan McMahon and scored on McMahon’s grounder after an infield play where David Hamilton made a diving stab but could not get the throw home in time. One out later the Red Sox intentionally walked Judge to face Ben Rice, and Rice delivered a single to center to push the lead to 4-0.
The Yankees had another chance to add runs in the eighth, but a baserunning mistake erased a potential rally. Pinch-runner Jasson Domínguez was credited with an out when a grounder by Jazz Chisholm Jr. struck Domínguez’s back foot as he was advancing to second. Chisholm later stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch, then was thrown out at the plate on a shallow fly to right; the Yankees challenged the play and the call stood.
Boston’s lone run came on Eaton’s seventh-inning home run. The Red Sox threatened earlier but were stymied by Gil’s mix of fastball velocity and breaking stuff that generated weak contact and strikeouts until the seventh. Manager decisions to manage the left-right matchups and pitch counts resulted in a bullpen takeover before Gil could be afforded a chance at a complete-game no-hitter.
With the win, the Yankees maintained their wild-card edge over the Red Sox and stayed three games behind the division-leading Toronto Blue Jays, who hold the tiebreaker over New York. The two rivals will continue the pivotal series at Fenway on Saturday, with each club seeking to strengthen postseason positioning as the regular season winds toward October.
