Aaron Judge, Juan Soto go back-to-back as Yankees top Orioles again to move into tie for AL East lead
NY Post
BALTIMORE — The Yankees and Orioles’ benches-clearing madness Friday night avoided any fisticuffs, as did Saturday’s game.
But the Yankees spent Saturday afternoon throwing punches with their bats while Luis Gil put the Orioles in handcuffs to secure back-to-back wins and a series victory for the first time in a month, and climb back into a tie for first place in the AL East.
Austin Wells delivered the first haymaker with a three-run homer in the first inning before Juan Soto and Aaron Judge went back-to-back in the fifth.
Along with six strong innings from Gil, it was more than enough to lift the Yankees to a 6-1 win over the Orioles on a sticky and sweltering day at Camden Yards in front of a sellout crowd of 44,018.
As rough as things have gone for the Yankees (58-39) since the last time they won a series before Saturday — June 10-13 against the Royals — they now have a chance to enter the All-Star break in first place in the division if they can finish off a sweep of the Orioles (57-38) on Sunday.
“We needed it big-time, to bounce back and get on track,” Soto said. “It’s part of the game. We were going out there and trying our best, things weren’t going our way. But we keep trying until we find a way. We did a great job today to get the series and try to get the sweep [Sunday].”
With the Yankees on an impressive run of mostly correct decisions, there’s some reason to leave them alone and just let the best team in the American League continue to roll. But they did raise serious doubt and leave room for suggestions (and even ridicule) following maybe the most inexplicable decision of this season, or any season.
The Giants have never been 0-2 under Brian Daboll, until now. They were 2-0 and flying high in 2022 and 1-1 after a rousing comeback in Arizona in 2023. So, this represents a low point as far as early-season difficulties for Daboll and the Giants. They had no business beating the Vikings in the opener and no business losing to the Commanders in Week 2. But here they are.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Harrison Butker kept making a lonely walk to midfield after each quarter Sunday to check on the direction of the wind, which tends to swirl inside Arrowhead Stadium. He did it one last time during the 2-minute warning, when his Chiefs were trailing the Bengals by two and trying to give him a winning field-goal attempt.