Four early home runs help Yankees beat Rays again

Aaron Boone liked what he saw from Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton on Saturday after batting them 1-2 for the first time this season.  

“Two wrecking balls to start off,” Boone said after the pair’s contributions in a blowout victory over the Rays.

Again occupying the first two spots in the order, the duo helped to  wreck the Rays on Sunday, too, and went a combined 7-for-15 with six RBIs in the final two games of the series.

Erupting early for a second straight day, the Yankees buried their closest pursuers early in a 10-4 victory at the Stadium in front of 36,402, who had to wait nearly two hours for the game to start because of rain.

A day after picking up 10 hits before the Rays could record their fifth out, the Yankees scored 10 runs before Tampa Bay was able to get its fifth out. The Yankees had four homers in their first 14 plate appearances — opposite-field three-run shots by Gleyber Torres and Stanton, a two-run blast by Oswaldo Cabrera and a solo shot by Torres.

The Yankees (85-56)  pushed  their AL East lead back to 5 ½ games after seeing it trimmed to 3 ½ with a loss on Friday night that had the fan base in an outright panic.  

Judge singled and scored in the first inning and added a sacrifice fly in a seven-run second highlighted by Stanton’s second homer in as many days. 

“When they're at their best, they're great hitters,'' Boone said. "Because we got a couple guys back, G being one of those, it just lengthens the order. Both days, in the first inning, both those two guys got on, so it looks really good. Especially when the rest of the order follows it up and kind of drives them in and stuff. It's good to see Giancarlo really stringing together some really good at-bats now. And when that happens, and you got Judge there, you better be on top of your game right out of the chute.”

Will they continue to bat 1-2? “We'll see,'' Boone said. "As we get more guys back, not necessarily, but perhaps here in the short term.”

The Yankees were outhit 10-8, but besides the homers from Torres (Nos. 20 and 21) and Stanton (No. 26), they  got the first homer of Cabrera's career to account for nine of their runs. The Yankees scored 20 runs in the last two games after totaling 14  in their previous seven games against the Rays.

“Really good,'' Torres said. "All the boys, we’re really focused in every at-bat. In the past we weren’t very good offensively, but now we’re showing what we can do when we’re together. Everybody’s on the same page right now.''

In the pitching department, the Yankees went the bullpen route and it went relatively seamlessly as Domingo German, Lucas Luetge, Greg Weissert, Wandy Peralta, Lou Trivino, Ron Marinaccio, Clarke Schmidt and Clay Holmes mostly held down the Rays. Tampa Bay scored two garbage-time runs in the sixth and one in the ninth.

The Yankees, off Monday before starting a five-game trip Tuesday night in Boston, were well on their way 13 pitches into the game.  

Judge, coming off a three-hit game, dumped a single to center, making him 20-for-40 with 13 walks in his last 54 plate appearances. Stanton walked after falling behind 0-and-2 and Torres drove Luis Patino's  93-mph sinker into the seats in right-center for a 3-0 lead.

The Rays put two on with two outs against Luetge in the second and Boone brought in Weissert, the Bay Shore product drafted by the Yankees out of Fordham University. Jose Siri's flared single to right  made it 3-1.

Patino walked Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Kyle Higashioka back-to-back to begin the second and allowed a single by Marwin Gonzalez to load the bases. Swinging at a first-pitch slider, Judge skied a sacrifice fly to center for his MLB-leading 121st RBI, making it 4-1.

Stanton roped a 2-and-2, 94-mph fastball over the rightfield wall for a 7-1 lead and Torres won a 10-pitch at-bat by launching a drive over the leftfield wall. After Patino walked Josh Donaldson, Calvin Faucher surrendered Cabrera’s rocket into the rightfield bleachers, which made it 10-1.

“I felt so good,'' said Cabrera, who  got the ball from the fan who caught it. "I felt so excited about it. It feels amazing. In that moment, off the bat, I felt off the bat that I got it.”

Boone said of the last two days: “Obviously, the offense was huge both days here. I liked the fight in the first game. In a game that had some mistakes, we were down, we had a chance in the last at-bat, and then Gleyber flew out to the fence there at the end and then carried that into the next day. Felt like the energy was really good, and got the right pitching too. Just two really good days for us heading into an off-day. And to get a couple more guys back in the mix and back in the lineup obviously is huge, and hopefully as we go, that continues to happen.”

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

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.