Aaron Judge collected three hits and reached base four times, Austin Wells tied a career high with four RBIs and the host New York Yankees beat the Texas Rangers 8-0 Saturday afternoon in the first game of a doubleheader.
The Yankees won for the ninth time in 12 games following their 10-23 slide from June 15-July 26, thanks to Judge and Wells.
Judge had his ninth game with at least three hits and reached base at least three times for the MLB-best 40th time, raising his batting average to .325.
Judge drove in his MLB-best 105th run when he roped a run-scoring double down the left field line in the fourth. After getting hits in his first three at-bats, Judge walked in the fifth before taking a called third strike in the seventh.
Wells reached base multiple times for the 11th time in his past 14 starts and delivered a two-run double off Nathan Eovaldi (8-6) in the third and a two-run single off Brock Burke in a three-run fourth to help the Yankees pull away.
Gleyber Torres started New York’s scoring by hitting a run-scoring single in the first and Juan Soto had an RBI groundout in the fifth after scoring New York’s first run of the game.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. contributed his fifth homer in 11 games since being acquired from the Miami Marlins two weeks ago.
New York’s Carlos Rodon (13-7) allowed three hits in 5 2/3 innings and survived command issues at times. He withstood a season-high five walks and struck out six while working out of trouble in the second, third and fourth.
Eovaldi allowed three runs on six hits in three innings while struggling with his splitter. The right-hander struck out four and walked two while matching his shortest outing this season.
The Rangers lost for the ninth time in 12 games since winning five straight July 21-25 to get within a game of .500. Texas was blanked for the sixth time, left the bases loaded in the second and stranded two apiece in the third and fourth.