Austin Wells understood the moment.
The Yankees’ catcher and cleanup hitter used a timeout before his at-bat began, wanting the party that had broken out in The Bronx to extend a few seconds longer.
Aaron Judge had just crushed a no-doubter of a grand slam that put the Yankees ahead; had just snapped a 16-game streak without a home run, which is normal for others and a desert-worthy drought for Judge; and had just inspired the announced crowd of 45,292 to empty its lungs, chant “MVP” and force the team’s captain out of the dugout for a curtain call.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. looked around at a regular-season game masquerading as a playoff game and told manager Aaron Boone, “This is pretty sick.”
A quiet contest for the first six innings turned into one of the more electric of the year, shifting on one Judge swing in a 5-4 win over the Red Sox on Friday night.
Judge’s 52nd homer of the season — and first since Aug. 25 — brought the Yankees (86-62) a third straight dramatic victory and a sixth win in their past eight.
The AL East lead is up to three games after the Orioles fell in Detroit.
“I think this probably might be the most memorable win of my career so far,” said fifth-year big-leaguer Clarke Schmidt, who was strong for 5 ²/₃ innings before watching Judge & Co. climb out of a hole.
The Yankees had been shut out by Richard Fitts — a former Yankees farmhand sent to Boston in the Alex Verdugo trade this offseason — for five innings and lacked a pulse until the seventh.
Anthony Volpe and Verdugo worked walks — Verdugo coming back from an 0-2 ditch in the battle — against righty Zack Kelly before Gleyber Torres bounced an RBI single through the left side to close the gap to 4-1.
Boston turned to lefty Cam Booser, who walked Juan Soto on four pitches to load the bases for the most dangerous hitter in baseball.
“You got to grind your way back in and hope you hit the money ball with some runners on,” Boone said. “And the captain sure did.”
Getting behind Judge 2-0 was not a good start for Booser.
Grooving a down-the-middle fastball with the third pitch was a worse finish.
Judge blasted a rocket of a grand slam, his second of the season, to quiet any concerns that had existed for an all-world superstar who had slumped for a few weeks.
His 16 consecutive games without launching one was the most of his career.
“Was it 16 games? I didn’t really know that,” Judge said. “Is that a lot? Or is that not?”
Informed that Judge claimed he did not know the depths of the drought, Schmidt smiled.
“I don’t know about that,” the righty said to laughs. “… Judge, he’s very aware of stuff like that.
“It’s hard to ignore — it feels like if he has two games in a row where he doesn’t get a homer, it’s like something’s going on.”
Following two straight walk-off wins, the Yankees’ magic arrived a few innings earlier this time.
The one-run lead was all the new-look back of the bullpen would need, with Luke Weaver dominant in recording the final six outs — five via strikeout — for his second save.
One of the more climactic games of the Yankees’ season began with concerns.
Schmidt was excellent through five innings before a strange sixth, when Jarren Duran led off the inning with a well-placed chopper between Anthony Rizzo and Torres.
Rizzo hustled to cover first base, and Torres didn’t take a step toward the ball, giving up on the play.
Three batters later, Masataka Yoshida blasted a two-run homer to right to end Schmidt’s night and shine a spotlight on another strange play from Torres.
The struggling Mark Leiter Jr. replaced Schmidt and served up a two-run home run to Trevor Story in the top of the seventh, the sixth homer Leiter has allowed with the Yankees after surrendering just two with the Cubs this year.
The 4-0 hole and lingering worries about Torres and Leiter soon were shoved aside. Such is the power of Aaron Judge.
“I was in the training room,” Schmidt said of that seventh inning. “I was going crazy. Anyone who was in the general vicinity of the training room heard me.
“Words can’t describe how cool that was.”
