Aaron Judge snapped the longest home run drought of his career Friday night and he did it in grand style. The Yankees star slugged a seventh-inning grand slam against the Boston Red Sox (GameTracker) to turn New York's 4-1 deficit into a 5-4 lead. It was Judge's first home run since he hit two against the Colorado Rockies on Aug. 25.
Here is Judge's grand slam:
Captain. Clutch. Grand. Slam.#ALLRISE pic.twitter.com/VBZxeP8cIW
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) September 14, 2024
Judge had been homerless in his previous 16 games, a new career high. His previous career high was a 15-game drought during his rookie year in 2017. Judge went 12 for 58 (.207) with three doubles between homers.
"It's just baseball," Judge told the New York Post about his home run drought following Thursday's game. "I'm feeling fine and the results will be there."
The grand slam was Judge's MLB-leading 52nd home run of the season. He is on pace for 57 homers. Judge has a tendency to hit homers in bunches -- he went deep 10 times in the 13 games prior to the 16-game drought -- and a surge over the next few days could put him on pace to top 60 homers again.
Judge, 32, entered play Friday with a .319/.453/.683 slash line. He leads baseball in on-base percentage by 35 points and slugging percentage by 66 points, not to mention several other categories.
