NEW YORK (AP) — Aaron Judge hit a tiebreaking homer leading off the seventh inning that ended a 10-game drought, and the New York Yankees defeated the Kansas City Royals 4-3 on Wednesday night to complete a three-game sweep.
With a runner at second base in the ninth, Cody Bellinger made a diving catch in right field on MJ Melendez’s sinking liner to preserve Fernando Cruz’s first career save.
Judge went deep for the first time since April 4 in Pittsburgh when he lifted a 1-0 sinker from John Schreiber (1-1) into the New York bullpen beyond the right-center fence.
Judge had three hits for the third time this season. He reached base four times and his batting average climbed 27 points to a major league-best .409.
Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt had some dominant moments and pitched 5 2/3 innings of three-run ball in his season debut. After recovering from rotator cuff tendinitis, the right-hander permitted four hits and threw 73 pitches.
Anthony Volpe hit a two-run double in the third and Bellinger had an RBI double in the fourth to give the Yankees a 3-1 lead.
Schmidt retired 11 straight before Drew Waters opened the fifth with a single and scored on Kyle Isbel's triple. Isbel scored the tying run on a groundout by Jonathan India.
Salvador Perez hit an RBI single four batters in before Schmidt settled down.
Kansas City starter Kris Bubic allowed three runs and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings.
Mark Leiter Jr. (2-1) got four outs after Schmidt was lifted, and Cruz pitched two scoreless innings.
Key moment
After the Royals tied the game, Bobby Witt Jr. swung at the first pitch and flied out to end the fifth.
Key stat
Judge entered hitting .382 (13 for 34) over his previous 10 games.
Up next
Royals: RHP Michael Lorenzen (1-2, 3.71 ERA) opposes Tigers RHP Reese Olson (1-1, 6.00) in the opener of a four-game series Thursday at Detroit.
Yankees: RHP Will Warren (1-0, 5.14 ERA), who earned his first career win Saturday, faces Rays RHP Taj Bradley (2-0, 3.71) in the opener of a four-game series at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Florida, on Thursday.
___
This story makes a correction to show Judge was hitting .382 over his previous 10 games, not 11 games.
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Larry Fleisher, The Associated Press
