Judge, Stanton, Rizzo homer to lead Yankees over Blue Jays 9-8

Updated Apr. 7, 2024 12:22 a.m. ET

Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Anthony Rizzo homered, and the New York Yankees chased Kevin Gausman in the second inning of a 9-8 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday night.

Judge and Stanton went deep in a three-run first against Gausman (0-1), and Rizzo added his first of the season in the fifth against Mitch White. Juan Soto had a pair of RBI singles as the Yankees opened leads of 6-0 in the second and 9-2 in the sixth before hanging on late.

“Obviously hasn’t got a lot of results before tonight but he’s been in his at-bats,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of Stanton. “There’s been some swing and miss in there but there’s been really competitive at-bats. Again, sometimes you've got to roll with that with G a little bit.”

Stanton raised his batting average to .214 with three hits after starting the season 3 for 24.

“Just stay in my lanes a little bit more,” Stanton said. “I felt like I was coming up out of them on some swings.”

Luke Weaver (3-0) allowed three runs over two innings and became the major leagues’ first three-game winner despite a 6.35 ERA over 5 2/3 innings in three relief outings.

Before a loud crowd of 42,250 on a rare Saturday night game in the Bronx, New York boosted its record to 7-2 and improved to 32-4 when Judge and Stanton homer in the same game, including the postseason.

With Toronto trailing by seven runs, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. homered against Weaver leading off a three-run seventh. He pointed to a crowd that had booed him, took a hop near shortstop and put a finger to his lips when rounding third.

After the Blue Jays closed to 9-6, Clay Holmes got two outs for his fourth save, allowing Alejandro Kirk's RBI grounder and pinch-hitter Cavan Biggio's run-scoring single before striking out George Springer.

“I love the way they battled back,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said.

Gausman’s four-seam fastball averaged 91.4 mph on a 50-degree night, down from 94.7 mph in his first start.

“I really don't look at my velo," he said. “That's kind of the running joke: I'm 88 to 98 (mph), so they don't know what they're going to get. I don't know what I'm going to get, either."

Gausman allowed six runs, five earned, and two walks in 1 1/3 innings, his shortest outing since May 2019. He had not allowed a run in his previous 20 innings at Yankee Stadium.

“I could never kind of get in a rhythm tonight, walking guys, not my usual self,” Gausman said.

After Soto overcame an 0-2 count to walk, Judge pulled an 0-2 inside splitter to left-center for his second home run this season. The home run was his fourth off Gausman, tied for his most against any pitcher with Marcus Stroman, Tyler Wells and Taijuan Walker.

One out later, Stanton lined a first-pitch fastball to right, where it hit the top of the wall and then a fan’s glove — which was behind the fence. The home run call was upheld after a video review.

“I told him to hit it a little farther, man, so we don't have to do this review,” Judge said with a smile.

New York opened a 6-0 lead in the second after what appeared to be an Anthony Volpe strikeout leading off was changed by a video review into a catcher's interference call against Brian Serven. Gleyber Torres hit a sacrifice fly — missing a grand slam by a few feet — Serven had a run-scoring passed ball and Soto an RBI single.

Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt gave up two runs in 4 1/3 innings.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Blue Jays: RHP Alek Manoah (right shoulder inflammation) is to throw about 65 pitches in a game Sunday at Dunedin, Florida. ... RHP Erik Swanson, on the IL since March 25 with right forearm inflammation, will follow Manoah to the mound in that game.

Yankees: RHP Jonathan Loáisiga said he needs season-ending elbow surgery to repair a torn ACL and will be sidelined for 10 to 12 months.

UP NEXT

Yankees RHP Luis Gil (0-0, 1.93 ERA) faces Blue Jays RHP Bowden Francis (0-1, 11.81) in Sunday's series finale.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB