Yankees tee off with 9-run third inning to sweep the Nationals

Often the numbers don’t tell the whole story. In the case of the bottom of the third inning of Wednesday’s game between the Yankees and Washington at the Stadium, they do.

The Yankees sent 15 batters to the plate. Nine of them scored. They had eight hits, including four home runs that traveled a total of 1,615 feet. And the Nationals needed to throw 77 pitches before it finally ended after a whopping 41 minutes.

This carnage that the Yankees wrought upon a Washington team that has been pretty much overmatched for the entire season wound up the centerpiece in what became an 11-2 rout before 35,501.

“It was outstanding,” manager Aaron Boone said of the Yankees’ third inning. “That was some bangin’ right there.”

Ben Rice, who opened the big inning with a single and later added a solo homer in it, was asked about being a part of the outburst and replied, “It was just contagious – everyone was putting together good at-bats . . . Everybody [was] just kind of in rhythm.”

The Yankees got a total of six home runs by six different players among their 13 hits to back starter Max Fried’s sparkling seven innings of one-run pitching.

Today is the @Yankees' third game this season with at least six different players hitting a home run.

That's the most such games in a single season by a team in MLB history. pic.twitter.com/8Dg0rm1u8R

— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) August 27, 2025

Fried (14-5, 3.06 ERA), who is tied for first in wins in the AL with teammate Carlos Rodon and Boston’s Garrett Crochet, has turned the page on a rough stretch of eight outings with two stellar ones in which he’s pitched a total of 13 innings of one-run ball.

The victory completed a three-game sweep of Washington and gives the Yankees four straight victories after their run of seven wins in eight games ended with three straight defeats to the Red Sox. They continue to put pressure on AL East leader Toronto and second-place Boston, who both play Wednesday night.

“[To] really right the ship and do it in a kind of a profound way is nice,” Boone said.

Trent Grisham set the tone for the fireworks by leading off the Yankees’ first inning with his 26th home run and sixth on the club’s first plate appearance of a game.

The third-inning fireworks started with Aaron Judge’s 41st home run, a 424-foot, two-run blast over the centerfield wall. Cody Bellinger made it back-to-back homers with his 25th of the season, a 410-footer off the back wall of the Yankees’ bullpen in right-center. Ryan McMahon had a 409-foot, three-run shot into the home bullpen and Rice added his 22nd homer, a 372-foot solo job to right.

Jasson Dominguez drove in a run in both of his at-bats in the third inning.

The 77 pitches Washington threw in the third was the highest total in an inning since the Marlins threw 91 to the Red Sox in the first inning of a game on June 27, 2003, according to MLB.com researchers.

Asked about what Rice called the contagious feeling, Judge said “You just get an idea of what their pitchers are trying to do . . . [against] each guy. You kind of get a feel for what their game plan is – what the pitcher’s strength are, what he’s feeling that day – and it kind of helps you fine tune your approach when you get up.”

McMahon had hit just .210 in 27 games since he was acquired in trade from the Rockies entering Wednesday and was ecstatic about his home run.

“Oh man, finally,” he said. “I’ve sucked – I don’t think it’s a secret. So [I’m] just trying to get going, trying to do something to help the team offensively.”

The only potential downside to the offensive explosion was that Fried was off the mound for longer than some rain delays last.

“It’s a good problem to have, right?” he said. “[It] goes from 1-0 to 10-0 – there’s definitely worse things to happen.”

For all the celebration of the Stadium crowd in that half inning, it ended with boos showered on Anthony Volpe, who brought the hitting to a close by making his second out of the inning.

Volpe came into the game in an 0-for-19 slump and went 0-for-5. He is on a 1-for-37 skid as the Yankees head to Chicago to play the White Sox in a four-game series beginning Thursday.

Austin Wells added a solo home run, his 18th, in the fourth.

Righthander Paul Blackburn replaced Fried for the eighth and finished Washington off with two innings of one-run pitching.

Notes & quotes: Lefthander Ryan Yarbrough could join the active roster in a matter of days. On the 15-day IL with an oblique strain since late June, he made his fourth minor-league rehab start Tuesday and threw 63 pitches as he allowed two runs over 4 2/3 innings. Aaron Boone said he watched video of part of the outing and said Yarbrough “looked sharp.”