By JERRY BEACH Associated Press
Yankees beat Braves 8-3
NEW YORK (AP) — Aaron Judge hit his major league-leading 28th home run and the New York Yankees stopped a three-game losing streak with an 8-3 win over the Atlanta Braves on Saturday night as Giancarlo Stanton hurt his left hamstring.
Judge had three RBIs for a major league-high 70, Juan Soto reached base four times on a single and three walks, and Marcus Stroman won for the fifth time in six decisions. The big league-best Yankees (52-27) had lost five of their previous six games.
Stanton doubled off the center-field wall in the fourth inning and winced when he rounded third base on Gleyber Torres’ double, which gave the Yankees a 4-1 lead. Trent Grisham pinch hit for Stanton in the sixth, and the Yankees said the oft-injured 34-year-old slugger had left hamstring tightness and will have imaging on Sunday.
Stanton played in 69 of the Yankees’ first 79 games this season and is hitting .246 with 18 homers and 45 RBIs.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone was ejected by Derek Thomas after Stroman started yelling at the plate umpire about a ball four decision to Marcell Ozuna leading off the seventh. Boone screamed at Thomas from the dugout and was ejected for the fourth time this season and for the 37th time in seven seasons as Yankees manager.
Ozuna homered in the first off Stroman (7-3), who allowed three runs, three hits and two walks in 6 2/3 innings.
Judge followed Soto’s walk in the bottom half by homering off Charlie Morton (4-4) for a 2-1 lead, Judge’s 22nd homer in 42 games. Judge hit into a run-scoring double play in the third and drew a bases-loaded walk from Aaron Bummer in a three-run sixth.
Oswaldo Cabrera had a two-run single and Grisham had an opposite-field homer to left in the seventh against Jesse Chavez.
Travis d’Arnaud chased Stroman with a two-run homer.
Atlanta (42-32) had won seven of its previous game. Braves pitchers walked eight, matching their season high.
Morton gave up five runs, five hits and five walks in 5 2/3 innings.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Braves: LHP A.J. Minter (left hip) allowed an unearned run and struck out three batters in an inning Saturday night in his first rehab appearance for Class A Rome.
Yankees: Torres went 1 for 4 in his return after missing a game with right groin tightness.
UP NEXT
Yankees LHP Nestor Cortes (4-5, 3.36 ERA) and Braves LHP Max Fried (6-3, 3.11 ERA) start Sunday’s series finale.