Yankees rally with 10-spot in 7th inning to beat Padres, Judge hits 12th homer
Austin Wells hit a grand slam as part of a 10-run seventh inning for the Yankees against the San Diego Padres at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Clarke Schmidt matched the Padres’ Michael King — the pitcher the Yankees never wanted to give up but had to in order to land Juan Soto — for six innings Tuesday night.
It was then up to the clubs’ bullpens.
The Yankees’ offense took it from there.
Tim Hill and Fernando Cruz teamed up to allow the Padres to take a one-run lead in the top of the seventh, but the Yankees sent 13 to the plate against Adrian Morejon and former Yankee Wandy Peralta in a 10-run bottom half, allowing the Yankees to cruise to a 12-3 win in front of 38,090 at the Stadium.
The last four of those runs came on Austin Wells’ first career grand slam. It was the most runs the Yankees scored in an inning since scoring 11 runs in the second inning against the Rangers on July 28, 2015, in Arlington, Texas.
“That was amazing,” Ben Rice said of Tuesday’s seventh inning, one in which he contributed a two-run single.
The Yankees (20-16) had 10 hits overall, seven of them in the seventh.
Against the lefthander Morejon, who came on to protect a 3-2 lead, the switch-hitting Jasson Dominguez, far weaker from the right side, led off with a double to start the rally. Anthony Volpe singled and Wells stroked an RBI single to right, tying it at 3-3.
Trent Grisham later in the inning worked a bases-loaded walk against Peralta to put the Yankees up 4-3, and Rice’s two-run double, his second double of the game, made it 6-3. Cody Bellinger and Volpe had RBI singles before Wells blasted Peralta’s full-count changeup 375 feet to right to cap the onslaught.
But everyone agreed the inning’s spark came from Dominguez, who came into the day hitting .307 from the left side but just .083 from the right.
“JD getting on, attacking and having a good at-bat to lead it off I think starts everything,” Volpe said.
Dominguez jumped on a first-pitch slider and roped it into the gap in left-center, thinking double from contact.
Aaron Boone said: “It was a really big play and it kind of set the tone for that that inning and just great at-bats followed.”
Aaron Judge, who went 1-for-3 with a walk and two runs, hit his 12th homer. He is hitting .412 with a 1.275 OPS this season.
King, who posted a 3.38 ERA with the Yankees from 2019-23 before being the deal-breaking ask of the Padres during the ’23 winter meetings, came into Tuesday night having established himself in his season-plus in San Diego as one of the National League’s premier starters. King, who entered 4-1 with a 2.09 ERA, allowed two runs over six innings.
Schmidt was King’s equal on the scoreboard, allowing two runs, seven hits and one walk over six innings in which he struck out four. He balked in one of those runs in a two-run top of the fourth but Judge’s homer off a 96-mph fastball with one out in the bottom half made it 2-1. Cody Bellinger walked and scored later in the inning on a Dominguez single and ensuing throwing error by rightfielder Fernando Tatis Jr. trying for Bellinger at third.
“A lot of fun,” Schmidt said of facing King, with whom he texted with several days before the matchup and whom he spoke to in person in the outfield Monday afternoon. “A lot easier playing with him than competing against him.”
Schmidt said the matchup was like “playing one of your brothers.”
“You obviously want to go out there and you obviously want to go out there and have some bragging rights,” Schmidt said with a smile. “I don’t know what the lines were, I felt like they were very similar so I guess we’ll play for the tie on that. But I guess we’ll give the win to Judge because he got him [with the homers] so we’ll give it to him.”
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
