One of the best players to ever wear a Yankee uniform reached another milestone in his Hall-of-Fame career. Aaron Judge’s history-making home run took him past Yogi Berra for the fifth most in Yankees history. It was subsequently overshadowed by perhaps the single most galling display of “pitching” the Yankees have produced all season long.
One moment, the game was competitive—a 2-2 tie between two presumptive AL playoff teams. The next, it was a complete joke. The Tigers plated nine runs in the seventh
inning—eight of which came against Fernando Cruz and Mark Leiter Jr. before a single out was recorded. They had no control whatsoever, combining for four walks, a plunking, and a wild pitch. Whatever else happened in this game was utterly inconsequential as the Yankees reached terminal velocity in a 12-2 freefall.
Let’s at least allow ourselves to remind ourselves what joy feels like and begin with the milestone. Judge had been in a tie with Yogi Berra for six games, stuck on 358 home runs. He took care of business early in this one. On a full count in the first inning, he unleashed his picturesque swing and sent a splitter from Casey Mize to the back of the Yankee bullpen. No. 359 left the bat at 110.6 mph—a quintessentially Judgian blast.
Having broken the tie with Berra, Judge moved into sole possession of fifth place in Yankee history, marking the first change to the top five in 68 years. That fact will have you recognize just how impenetrable the lore of this team can be; it’ll also make you appreciate just how transcendent of a hitter Judge is. Of course, he does more than just hit homers, but the long ball is certainly his trademark. The history-making shot marked his 44th of 2025.
In the third inning another Yankee outfielder stepped into the spotlight. Trent Grisham made a leaping catch to rob former Yankee prospect Trey Sweeney of extra bases. Judging by the outfield view, it didn’t quite look like the ball had enough on it to clear the wall, but it never hurts to jump up to the top and make sure.
Casey Mize brushed off the Judge home run and proceeded to retire the next nine consecutive batters he faced. But we’d heard from two Yankee outfielders already tonight. How about a third? Cody Bellinger hammered a hanging breaking ball into the second deck to get the Yankees back in the hit and run columns simultaneously. Ryan McMahon fired up the massage gun in the dugout and the Bombers doubled their advantage on Bellinger’s 28th home run. The game could not have felt any more normal at this point.
Will Warren was just about flawless to start, as he sent down 11 straight between a first-inning double and a fifth-inning walk. But that walk precipitated trouble, as a few batters later, Parker Meadows jumped on a mislocated fastball and slashed a game-tying home run to right. You want to see him recover quickly after that kind of an ambush, and thanks to some big-time help from Jazz Chisholm Jr., he sent the next two men down to end the inning. He then retired the side in order in the sixth, finishing with a strikeout of Kerry Carpenter, his fifth K of the evening. It was an utterly normal start. A quality one, even. No signs of impending apocalypse.
Mize matched wits with Warren, keeping the game tied and recording a pair of Ks to complete the sixth. The former first-overall pick notched his second quality start in as many tries this season against the Yankees. Both starters did their job, so the rest of the night would be a test to see which bullpen would blink first. A staring contest, if you will.
So, imagine said staring contest, but if one of the participants immediately blinked and then proceeded to projectile vomit toxic bile all over the dinner table, instantly killing all the houseplants in the dining room. That’s a solid approximation of what Fernando Cruz and Mark Leiter Jr. pulled off against the Tigers in the seventh.
Cruz entered the game and quickly showed he had absolutely nothing to get Detroit hitters out. He immediately loaded the bases, then Meadows put the Tigers on top for the first time with a single to right field. He followed by walking Dillon Dingler to force in a second run. He faced five batters and allowed all of them to reach base. They would all score before a single out would be recorded.
Leiter was somehow even worse than Cruz, allowing a bloop single (featuring an Anthony Volpe pratfall, fitting on a night that also saw him strike out twice and pop up a bunt), walk, hit-by-pitch, run-scoring wild pitch, and two-run triple in that order to give the Tigers double-digit runs. Tim Hill would enter and allow one more run on a fielder’s choice (charged to Leiter) before the carnage finally stopped. The score was 11-2. If you are brave enough and have taken your seasonal flu shot, you can look at all nine runs below.
Folks, we witnessed both kinds of history tonight. According to stats extraordinaire Katie Sharp, this game marked the first time in Yankee history in which two pitchers allowed four or more earned runs and fail to record a single out. Naturally, they piggybacked off each other.
It was at least nice to see Gleyber Torres get a warm reception from the crowd in his return to Yankee Stadium this evening. Torres roped a ground-rule double in his first at-bat and finished 1-for-3 with two walks (one with the bases loaded) and a run scored.
The Tigers added one more run in the eighth for good measure and the Yankees lost a nailbiter. My cuticles are unrecognizable.
The best players and teams have short memories. The Yankees will need that to bounce back in this series, as they did following a lifeless effort in the series opener against Toronto last Friday. Carlos Rodón draws the assignment against Jack Flaherty, with the same 7:05 PM start as tonight. It’ll be a Prime night, so prepare accordingly.
