BALTIMORE, MARYLAND - JULY 29: Aaron Judge #99 of the New York Yankees celebrates after hitting a solo home run against the Baltimore Orioles in the third inning at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on July 29, 2020 in Baltimore, Maryland.
(Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)

After blowing a 5-0 lead, the New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles 8-6 on star slugger Aaron Judge’s ninth-inning three-run home run.

  • New York Yankees 8 (4-1)
  • Baltimore Orioles 6 (2-3)
  • American League, Final, Box Score
  • Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Baltimore, Maryland

The New York Yankees took a big lead, lost it, and then stole back en route to an 8-6 victory against the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday.

The bats were alive early as the Bronx Bombers scored five runs in the first inning. Giancarlo Stanton opened the scoring with an RBI single, one of his three hits on the night. Two batters later, Luke Voit blew the game open early with the first grand slam of his career.

J.A. Happ made his season debut and was immediately plagued by the home run again. The veteran lefty gave up two-run home runs to Hanser Alberto and Rio Ruiz, and Baltimore trimmed the score to 5-4 after two innings.

Happ later found his control, but was lifted after four innings after throwing 69 pitches. The Yankees also experienced a scare when star shortstop Gleyber Torres left the game in the fourth inning, as Tyler Wade took over. A pitch hit Torres in the right elbow in the first inning, though he stayed in the game initially. X-rays later came back negative.

Following a lengthy rain delay, Jonathan Loaisiga came on in relief of Adam Ottavino and pitched two strong innings. However, he came out for the eighth inning instead of setup man Tommy Kahnle. He surrendered a go-ahead two-run shot to Pedro Severino, and Boone later provided a murky update on Kahnle.

Thankfully, it all worked out. Orioles closer Cole Sulser couldn’t find the strike zone and allowed two baserunners before Aaron Judge stepped to the plate. Already 0-for-3 with three strikeouts, Judge launched a 3-1 fastball into the (empty) left-field seats to put New York back up 8-6. Zack Britton worked a quick ninth for his second save of the season.

Player of the Game: Aaron Judge

All rise, fans. Court is in session. Judge not only hit the go-ahead home run, but this is the second game in a row in which he’s gone deep. The big slugger is seeing the ball well, along with Stanton, which means great things for the New York Yankees.

Next on the docket

On Friday, the New York Yankees finally have their home opener at Yankee Stadium against the blood rival Boston Red Sox. Jordan Montgomery will make his first start of the year, while Boston sends Ryan Weber (0-1, 14.73 ERA) to the mound. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. ET on the YES Network and also MLB Network.

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Josh Benjamin
Josh Benjamin has been a staff writer at ESNY since 2018. He has had opinions about everything, especially the Yankees and Knicks. He co-hosts the “Bleacher Creatures” podcast and is always looking for new pieces of sports history to uncover, usually with a Yankee Tavern chicken parm sub in hand.

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