Yankees hit 9 HRs for 2nd time this season, tie franchise record in win over Rays

TAMPA, Fla. — Neither a day off nor a violent Florida thunderstorm typical for this time of year, which caused a nearly two-hour delay, did a thing to slow the Yankees.

And that point came emphatically in the first inning at their spring training home Tuesday night where they hit three first-inning homers en route to nine innings of blasting baseballs out of Steinbrenner Field as if it was batting practice before a Grapefruit League game in early March.

Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger and Giancarlo Stanton went back-to-back-to-back minutes after the 9:30 p.m. start, sparking a nine-homer barrage that tied the franchise record set earlier this season, this one coming in the Yankees’ 13-3 rout of the Rays in front of 10,046.

The @Yankees are the first team in MLB history to hit back-to-back-to-back homers in the first inning 3 times in the same season (March 29, April 29 & tonight).

— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) August 20, 2025

“Wow,” Aaron Boone said.

Stanton, Bellinger and former Ray Jose Caballero each homered twice as the Yankees reached the eight-homer plateau for the fourth time in franchise history and second time this year. They set a franchise record with nine homers in the second game of the season, March 29 against the Brewers at the Stadium. Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Ben Rice also homered Tuesday night.

Cody Bellinger, Giancarlo Stanton & Jose Caballero are the second trio in Yankees history to each hit multiple homers in the same game, joining:

5/30/1961 Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris & Bill Skowron https://t.co/JDN3OKyjEE

— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) August 20, 2025

“We gotta pick it up,” Bellinger said with a laugh of the Yankees again coming up one shy of tying the MLB record of 10, accomplished by the Blue Jays in 1987.

Judge became the fourth player in franchise history to hit at least 40 homers in four seasons, joining Babe Ruth (11 seasons), Lou Gehrig (five) and Mickey Mantle (four).

The Yankees (68-57), who have won four straight games and seven of their last nine, are a game ahead of the Red Sox and Mariners, who both lost Tuesday, for the AL’s first wild-card spot. The Yankees are also now second in the AL East, five games behind Toronto. The Red Sox visit the Stadium on Thursday night for the start of a four-game series.

The Yankees outhit the Rays, 16-8.

Bellinger (24 homers) went 4-for-5 with two homers and three RBIs and Stanton (14 homers), getting another start in rightfield after having the weekend off his feet in St. Louis, went 2-for-3 with a walk and four RBIs. Caballero was 2-for-4, Judge went 2-for-5 with three runs and Chisholm (22 homers) went 2-for-5.

“We have a really good offense,” Bellinger said. “The ebbs and flows of a 162-game season, it’s not always going to be pretty, but we all believe in each other, and the talent’s there, and we’re doing a good job of putting it all together. It’s been fun to be a part of.”

Carlos Rodon allowed two runs, five hits and two walks over five innings in which he struck out five.

“It’s just part of it,” Rodon (13-7, 3.24) said of warming up, then having to wait two hours to start the game. “[You] roll with the punches.”

After Rays righthander Shane Baz struck out Trent Grisham looking to start the game, Judge crushed a 1-and-1, 92-mph cutter 425 feet off the top of the batter’s eye in center. Bellinger launched a 1-and-1, 92-mph cutter 381 feet to right and Stanton took an 0-and-2, 98-mph fastball 386 feet opposite-field to right-center.

After Rodon stranded two runners in the bottom half, Chisholm led off the second with a single and Anthony Volpe replaced him at first by hitting into a fielder’s choice. Caballero then lined an 0-and-1 cutter to right, his third homer of the season and first as a Yankee, making it 5-0.

The Rays got those two runs back in the bottom half to make it 5-2 but Chisholm went deep to right with one out in the third — which turned out to be Baz’s final inning — and the Yankees bludgeoned his replacement, Ian Seymour, for four runs in the fourth. Stanton hit a three-run homer, his second opposite-field homer of the night, to give him 10 homers in his last 21 games. Rice made it back-to-back shots, driving an 0-and-1 sweeper 406 feet, and completely out of the ballpark, to right, his 19th homer making it 10-2.

Bellinger’s two-run homer in the sixth made it 12-2 and Caballero, sent by the Rays to the Yankees for Everson Pereira and a player to be named before the trade deadline, homered in the ninth to make it 13-3.

The @Yankees are the first team in MLB history to hit 9+ homers in a game while allowing none. pic.twitter.com/sWkCU7AIa5

— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) August 20, 2025

“That’s why they’re the Bronx Bombers,” Caballero said with a smile. “Hanging out with those guys [Judge and Stanton], something has to be contagious.”