Crew, York! MIL slams NYY; Judge tops Joe D

July 8th, 2017

NEW YORK -- and the Brewers could stomach committing five errors after their long night ended with a fifth consecutive win.
Aguilar homered twice, including a grand slam, and tied Milwaukee's franchise record with seven RBIs to overshadow 's Major League-leading 30th home run in the Brewers' 9-4 win over the Yankees on Friday evening at Yankee Stadium.
"I'm a very, very happy man," Aguilar said through translator Carlos Brizuela. "I'm happy I tied ['s] record, but I'm most happy that we got the win. As long as we keep winning. ... The most important thing is we came back from [the errors]. We kept our heads up."
Grand slams mean 40% off pizza
With their eighth win in nine games, the Brewers pushed nine games over .500 for the first time this season and remain 4 1/2 games ahead of the second-place Cubs in the National League Central. The Yankees lost for the 17th time in 23 games.
"It's really disappointing, but we didn't have many hits," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "They gave us some opportunities through their errors and we scored some runs, but we didn't have a lot of hits tonight. If you put some walks and some hits with those five errors, you can put up a pretty big number, but we weren't able to."
The Brewers got those critical hits, the biggest from Aguilar, a waiver claim from Cleveland just before the start of Spring Training who has split time at first base with . He slugged a two-run homer off New York starter and lifted a sacrifice fly off reliever before delivering the crucial blow in the seventh inning, a drive to center field off for his first career grand slam. Both homers came on full counts.

"He's a rookie doing this, but it feels like an experienced at-bat," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "He's putting together professional at-bats, and he has a plan. Knows what he can and can't do. He's a very mature hitter when he steps in the box."
Brewers rookie left-hander was credited with the victory in relief of starter , who permitted three runs (one earned) over 3 1/3 innings before leaving due to a 51-minute rain delay and a right shin contusion.

Montgomery waited out the delay but was lifted after 4 1/3 innings. hit his second homer in as many games and Judge eclipsed Joe DiMaggio's 1936 club rookie home run record with a solo shot in the fifth, but it wasn't enough to keep the Yankees from their 17th loss in 23 games.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Clipped: After an 0-2 wild pitch led to two Brewers runs in the sixth inning, Clippard ran into more trouble in the seventh, issuing back-to-back one-out walks to and . After a flyout, was intentionally walked. Clippard then worked the count to 3-2 but couldn't sneak a 91.9-mph fastball past Aguilar, who mashed it a Statcast-calculated 424 feet toward Monument Park.

"It's just frustrating. I felt like I battled pretty well most of the day," Clippard said. "Obviously, the walks hurt, but even the last at-bat, when I gave up the home run, I made some good pitches. Obviously, the last one wasn't what I was trying to do, but that's baseball, man. It's just frustrating."
#AllRise past Joe D: Judge became just the second rookie in Major League history to reach 30 homers prior to the All-Star break, joining Mark McGwire (33 in 1987) with his fifth-inning blast to center field off Hader. Judge's homer was the high point of the evening for the Yankees, who took a 4-2 lead before the bullpen coughed it up an inning later.

"It's quite an honor. It's been a fun first half so far," Judge said. "I'm blessed to be in this position with my teammates around me, always putting me in the right spot and helping me do my best and helping me succeed." More >
QUOTABLE
"First time here. We did come early to check out Monument Park and all that. Me and [Santana] were talking earlier, 'Who could imagine we would be here at Yankee Stadium?' Especially me hitting home runs. I'm just very blessed to be here." -- Aguilar
SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS
The Brewers became the first team to commit at least five errors in a victory since the D-backs beat the Giants, despite five errors, on April 8, 2012.
According to STATS Inc., Aguilar became the first Brewers rookie in the seven-RBI club and the second rookie to drive in seven or more runs against the Yankees since the RBI became an official stat in 1920. The other was Boston's Walt Dropo on July 1, 1950.
GUERRA'S NIGHT CUT SHORT
Montgomery returned to the mound after the rain delay, but Guerra did not. The Brewers later announced that Guerra had a bruised right shin from a comebacker off 's bat just as the rain started falling. Brewers head athletic trainer Dan Wright tended to Guerra for a moment and he remained in the game, but after one pitch, the umpiring crew sent the teams off the field. Counsell expects Guerra to be ready for his first start after the All-Star break.
"He was probably going to have to come out of the game pretty soon after, anyway," Counsell said. "He should be all right [after the All-Star break]. I thought it was a step in the right direction. We didn't make it easy on him with our defense, but it looked like the velocity was a little up tonight. The walks are still there, but I thought his stuff was crisper."
WHAT'S NEXT
Brewers: Lefty (1-1, 3.00) will make a second straight start in place of injured right-hander Chase Anderson when the series continues on Saturday at 12:05 p.m. CT. Suter set career highs by striking out eight batters in six innings on Monday against the Orioles at Miller Park, earning him another look.
Yankees: All-Star (5-4, 3.52) will try to bounce back against the Brewers on Saturday at 1:05 p.m. ET after taking the loss last time out at Houston, permitting six runs and nine hits in 5 1/3 innings. The Yanks have lost each of Severino's last four starts, as he is 0-2 with a 5.92 ERA over that span.
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