TAMPA, Fla. – The skies finally cleared on Tuesday over George M. Steinbrenner Field after a thunder-and-lightning display that lasted nearly two hours, and the Yankees came out ready to continue the show.
Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, and Giancarlo Stanton hit consecutive first-inning home runs off the Rays’ Shane Baz as they returned to their spring home with a flourish, matching a franchise record by belting nine home runs in a 13-3 thumping of the Rays.
It marked the second time this year the Yankees have hit nine homers in a game: They also did so in the season’s second game, on March 29 against the Brewers in New York. Stanton, Bellinger and José Caballero each homered twice on Tuesday.
Seeking their fourth consecutive victory, the Yanks backed left-hander Carlos Rodón early with Judge’s 429-foot blast, off a cutter that rocketed off the bat at 112.3 mph and cleared the center-field batter’s eye for the captain’s 40th homer of the season.
The drive provided an exclamation point on a day that included manager Aaron Boone publicly questioning if Judge’s throwing arm would be fully healthy once he returns to the outfield following a right flexor strain.
Judge insists he will be fine, and at least with a bat in his hands, he looks the part. Judge is the fourth player in franchise history to hit at least 40 homers in four seasons, joining Babe Ruth (11), Lou Gehrig (5) and Mickey Mantle (4).
There was more to come. Bellinger took a cutter out 381 feet to right field and Stanton ripped a 386-foot drive to right-center field. It marked the Yankees’ third stretch of three consecutive home runs this season, a feat only previously achieved by the 1982 Brewers and the 2024 Dodgers, per Stathead’s Katie Sharp.
Jazz Chisholm, Jr. hit a two-run homer, Stanton added a three-run blast and Ben Rice also went deep to support Rodón, who went six innings, allowing five hits, two walks and two runs with five strikeouts.
Judge and Stanton have homered in the same game 55 times (including the postseason). The Yankees are 48-7 in those games.