Reds hold off Aaron Judge, Yanks for 5-4 win
Elly De La Cruz hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning as the visiting Cincinnati Reds held on for a 5-4 victory over the New York Yankees on Tuesday night.
The Reds won for the third time in five games by building a five-run lead and surviving a big night from Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, who hit his major-league-leading 32nd homer of the season in the seventh to make it a one-run game. Judge finished with three hits.
De La Cruz tripled against New York starter Luis Gil (9-4) to open the fourth before scoring Cincinnati's first run on a groundout by Jeimer Candelario. He later cranked a 425-foot two-run shot against reliever Caleb Ferguson to put the Reds up 5-0 in the fifth.
De La Cruz's blast came shortly after Will Benson helped chase Gil from the game with a two-run homer of his own. After Stuart Fairchild was grazed by a pitch, Benson hit a drive that just cleared the center field fence over a leaping Trent Grisham for his ninth homer of the year.
Gil then hit Jonathan India with a pitch before Ferguson took over on the mound. Gil allowed four runs on two hits in four-plus innings and dropped his third straight start. He walked three and struck out three on Tuesday.
Gleyber Torres had an RBI single and rookie Ben Rice contributed a two-run double during a three-run sixth for the Yankees. Judge singled twice before homering off Sam Moll in the seventh.
Cincinnati starter Graham Ashcraft (5-4) gave up three runs on four hits in five-plus innings in his second start since returning from the minors. He walked two and fanned three.
Ashcraft allowed a single by Judge and walked Alex Verdugo before being lifted following Torres' run-scoring single.
Nick Martinez allowed Rice's two-run double but retired Jose Trevino on a flyout with a runner on to end the sixth. Moll kept the game at 5-4 after Judge homered, and Fernando Cruz pitched a 1-2-3 eighth.
Alexis Diaz pitched a perfect ninth for his 18th save in 20 opportunities.
