Aaron Judge, Austin Wells help power Yankees past Royals

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Royals leftfielder Mark Canha didn’t flinch. Didn’t move a muscle. Didn’t bother to turn his head.

There was no need.

The distinctive sound of the ball coming off of Aaron Judge’s bat told Canha — and everyone else at Kauffman Stadium — the story.

Judge, whose career has been characterized by his share of tape-measure home runs that have caused heads to shake in both dugouts, hit another one Tuesday night.

Belting the seventh-longest homer of his career, a 469-foot shot to left in the first inning, Judge got the Yankees off and running in a 10-2 victory over the Royals in front of 30,017 at Kauffman Stadium.

“I feel like when he hit that one off the bat, it was a little different,” Austin Wells, who also homered and matched a career high with five RBIs, said with a smile.

Aaron Boone, Judge’s manager since 2018, said at the crack of the bat, he positioned himself in an ideal place on the dugout’s top step to watch the ball’s trajectory, which took it to a place baseballs seldom visit in what generally is considered a pitcher’s ballpark.

“I made sure to jump up and get to a good spot where I could really watch it,” Boone said. “I had to make sure I had a good view of it. That was evaporated.”

It was Judge’s longest home run of the season, topping the 468-footer he hit off former teammate Nestor Cortes on March 29 (the longest home run of Judge’s career was 496 feet in his rookie season against Toronto on Sept. 30, 2017).

“Just glad to get the two runs,” Judge said. “Anytime you get a two-run lead like that, and you’ve got Max Fried on the mound, we like our chances.”

Though Judge got the Yankees (40-25) going with his 24th homer of the season, which came off his bat at 117.9 mph, the offensive star was Wells, who in addition to his three-run homer in the fourth that made it 5-1, added a two-run double in a five-run sixth that broke the game open. Wells won a nine-pitch at-bat against Royals lefthander Noah Cameron, who came in 2-1 with a 0.85 ERA, in hitting the home run, his 11th of the season, and beat righty Taylor Clarke in a 10-pitch at-bat on the double in the sixth, which made it 7-1.

“I was just trying to grind it out,” Wells said. “Both of those guys made some really good pitches throughout the at-bats.”

Judge, who came into the day leading the majors in batting average (.396), hits (95), on-base percentage (.493), slugging (.771), on-base plus slugging (1.264) and total bases (185), among other categories, finished 2-for-5 with three RBIs.

The Yankees, who had 16 hits, including three by Jasson Dominguez, batted around in a five-run sixth, the inning featuring Wells’ double and Cody Bellinger’s 1,000th career hit, an RBI single that made it 10-1.

Jazz Chisholm Jr., who got banged up sliding into third on a stolen base in the sixth, committed a throwing error in the bottom of the sixth and was replaced at third by Oswald Peraza in the seventh. Chisholm left the game with neck tightness, but the third baseman, who also banged up his right thumb on the slide, said afterward he expected to play Wednesday.

Chisholm, booed loudly before and during the game as fans here clearly remembered his “they got lucky” comments after the Royals beat the Yankees in Game 2 of last year’s Division Series and then the minor dustup he had with infielder Maikel Garcia in Game 4, doubled with one out to spark the five-run sixth. After Dominguez grounded out, Clarke came on to face DJ LeMahieu. Chisholm stole third and had to be looked at by trainer Tim Lyntech and Boone after the slide in which Garcia, the third baseman, couldn’t hold the ball bringing down a hard tag on Chisholm’s head.

“I just feel like every time we have a problem, it’s always been him,” Chisholm said of Garcia. “That’s the only reason I was so frustrated. And then to even see that he didn’t have the ball for the way he tagged me, I didn’t like it.”

Fried, who bounced back in his previous start from his worst outing of the season May 30 at Dodger Stadium, made it two straight standout starts.

The lefthander allowed two runs, six hits and zero walks in improving to 9-1 with a 1.84 ERA.

“When you put up 10 runs,” Fried said, “it makes my job easier.”

Stanton getting close

Giancarlo Stanton went 2-for-3 with a walk and three RBIs Tuesday as he began a rehab assignment with Double-A Somerset. Because he does not need reps in the field and will be returning strictly as a DH, Stanton is not expected to be on a rehab assignment for long, meaning he could return as soon as this weekend when the Yankees play the Red Sox at Fenway Park.

Speaking before Tuesday night’s game, Boone tamped the breaks a bit on the prospect of Stanton returning by the weekend — “I don’t know about that,” Boone said — but nonetheless indicated his rehab assignment won’t be a long one.

“He’s had a pretty big ramp-up, he’s had a lot of at-bats already,” Boone said. “Just making sure he’s had the necessary reps and he feels really good about when he’s ready to join us, he’s Big G.”

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.