Coming off a long, 13-inning marathon Friday night, the Yankees opted not to take batting practice on the field Saturday afternoon.
As it turned out, they were saving it for the game.
The Yankees put on an aerial display against Cubs right-hander Matt Swarmer, crushing six solo home runs on the way to an 8-0 win Saturday night in The Bronx.
Aaron Judge, who was showered with MVP chants throughout the game, led the way by hitting his MLB-leading 23rd and 24th homers of the year. Giancarlo Stanton, Gleyber Torres, Jose Trevino and Anthony Rizzo also went deep to build a 6-0 lead, giving the 38,043 in attendance an early preview of the Home Run Derby before the actual event is contested next month at Dodger Stadium.
“I’m a sucker for a good rally and a nice double in the gap with runners in scoring position, but six solo shots with one single looks pretty nice, too,” Judge said.
The six home runs — which combined to travel an estimated 2,388 feet, per Statcast — were a season-high for the Yankees (43-16), giving them an MLB-best 94 on the season as they won for the 10th time in their past 11 games.
Aaron Judge belts his second homer in the fifth inning of the Yankees’ 8-0 win over the Cubs. Corey SipkinIt was a rare showing of run support for Jordan Montgomery(2-1), who stifled the Cubs (23-35) as he tossed seven shutout innings while scattering five hits and five strikeouts. Montgomery working deep was much needed on a night when the Yankees were short in the bullpen, after relievers had to cover 13 ²/₃ innings over the past two games — which included four of their high-leverage relievers pitching on back-to-back nights.
“That was just what the doctor ordered,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Obviously the offense was terrific, but Monty was huge tonight.”
It took just two pitches in the bottom of the first inning for Judge to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. Batting leadoff for the fourth time this year, Judge crushed a fastball from Swarmer into the left-field seats to set the tone for the night.
Anthony Rizzo flips his bat after hitting a solo home run in the fifth inning of the Yankees’ win. Corey Sipkin Stanton and Torres then drilled back-to-back home runs in the fourth inning to make it 3-0. Stanton’s homer got out in a hurry, a bullet to left field that jumped off his bat at 119.8 mph — the hardest-hit ball in MLB this season, according to Statcast.
Torres’ blast, meanwhile, was his second home run in as many nights; both landed in the Yankees’ bullpen.
The Yankees piled on three more homers in the fifth inning. Trevino, who went 3-for-4 on the night to stay hot, led off with a fly ball that hit off the left-field foul pole for the 4-0 lead.
Jordan Montgomery pitched seven scoreless inning in the Yankees’ win. Corey Sipkin“It’s a good feeling,” Trevino said. “Especially after last night, a close game, we wanted to give Monty some run support and we did that. We did our job on offense and then he did his job.”
Judge made it 5-0 with his second longball of the night, marking his fifth multi-home run game of the season. He is only the third Yankee to to hit at least 24 homers in the team’s first 59 games of a season, joining Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle.
“Unreal, unreal,” Stanton said of Judge’s season. “It’s fun to watch. We all have the best seat in the house for it. He’s going to continue it.”
Rizzo then ganged up on his old team with a round-tripper to right field that capped off the power show for a 6-0 advantage.
The Cubs finally put the rookie Swarmer out of his misery after the fifth inning, at which point the Yankees settled for scoring without the ball leaving the yard. Isiah Kiner-Falefa chipped in an RBI single before Judge cracked a sacrifice fly for the final tally.
“Guys are locked in,” Montgomery said. “It’s definitely fun to see everyone barreling the ball up like that.”






