Aaron Judge is back to blasting jaw-dropping homers and the Yankees are back to winning.
Nothing like the Subway Series to get the Yankees healthy again after a disappointing weekend against the Red Sox.
The Yankees got a two-run double from Didi Gregorius in the seventh to take the lead for good in a 5-3 victory, their third straight after dropping three of four.
“We didn’t get the results we wanted [against the Red Sox], but we didn’t play bad,” Chase Headley said. “I thought we did a nice job of bouncing back and winning games and getting back on the right track. [You can] let that drag you down and put you in a tailspin.”
They also got a lift from Judge, who has struggled since winning the Home Run Derby last month.
Judge blasted a towering homer into the third deck in left that measured 457 feet off a Robert Gsellman hanging slider to lead off the fourth.
The blast, Judge’s 37th of the season, was his just seventh since the All-Star break.
Though he later set an MLB record by striking out in his 33rd consecutive game, the Yankees were glad to see the right fielder find his power stroke again.
“They told me it went 450 feet and I told them, ‘No chance,’ ” Gregorius said. “It was at least 500 feet. … It was one of the furthest I’ve seen.”
Judge didn’t look to see where the ball landed, instead putting his head down and circling the bases — but his teammates made sure he knew.
“They pointed to where it went,” Judge said. “They let me know.”
But in the seventh, Judge came up with the bases loaded and one out in a tie game. This time, he popped out to the catcher, bringing up Gregorius.
The shortstop followed with the crucial blow.
“That was huge,” manager Joe Girardi said. “After we had some chances and Judge just misses a ball. Then we turn it over to Adam [Warren] and [David] Robertson.”
Without Aroldis Chapman, who was unavailable as the Yankees try to determine whether he is completely healthy, and Dellin Betances, who had pitched three days in a row, Girardi went instead to Tommy Kahnle, Warren and Robertson.
The trio combined to throw 3 ²/₃ scoreless innings in relief of Jaime Garcia, who was ho-hum again in giving up three runs
in 5 ¹/₃ innings.
Kahnle replaced Garcia after a Michael Conforto double put runners on second and third with one out and the Yankees up by a run. Travis d’Arnaud hit a game-tying sacrifice fly, but that was it.
Juan Lagares opened the bottom of the eighth with a bunt single, but Warren got Asdrubal Cabrera looking and Cespedes swinging before Conforto grounded out.
Robertson closed it in Chapman’s absence to pick up his first save since rejoining the Yankees last month.
“The experience there really helps,” Girardi said. “I’ve used him anywhere from the sixth to the ninth innings. The credit belongs to him. He told me, ‘I’ll do anything you want. If you want me to start, I’ll start.’ ”
Ronald Torreyes sparked the winning rally with a double to start the seventh.
Pinch-hitter Brett Gardner, in a 3-for-31 slide before the at-bat, bunted Torreyes to third and Paul Sewald walked Jacoby Ellsbury and Aaron Hicks to bring up Judge.
After Judge misfired, Gregorius delivered to keep the Yankees 4½ games behind the Red Sox, who rallied for three runs in the bottom of the ninth to beat the Cardinals.
Girardi, though, chose to focus on his own team.
“We just want to win games and not worry about anything else,” the manager said.