ST. LOUIS — The Yankees have finally done what had seemed impossible over the past two-plus months: win back-to-back series.
Even on a night when Max Fried got hit around again, the Yankees just out-slugged the Cardinals, with Ben Rice’s seven RBIs leading the way to a 12-8 win on a sweltering Saturday at Busch Stadium.
Rice crushed a three-run homer in the fourth inning that regained the lead for good, then clubbed a three-run double in the sixth and an RBI single in the seventh that provided some breathing room.
Aaron Judge also turned in his best game since returning from the injured list, going 2-for-3 with his 39th home run, an RBI double and two walks.
Trent Grisham added a four-hit night, José Caballero scored three runs and Ryan McMahon drilled his first home run as a Yankee to help clinch a second straight series victory for the first time since late May.
In between, the Yankees played 20 series and won only seven of them, never consecutively as they struggled to gain any kind of momentum to snap out of their dive in the standings.
“I think we’re in a good spot,” Rice said. “We’re just going to continue to take it one series at a time. It’s good that we got the win, we got to get the sweep [Sunday] and keep taking that momentum into each [day].”
Saturday’s win — their fourth in five games and sixth in nine games — allowed the Yankees (66-57) to pick up a game on the Mariners in the AL wild-card standings (they trail them and the Red Sox by 1 ¹/₂ games) while creating some more distance ahead of the Guardians, who are 2 ¹/₂ games back of Aaron Boone’s club for the third and final spot.
That was thanks in large part to Rice, who was starting at first base but has begun to take over more catching duties with his hot bat forcing the issue.
He has hit the ball hard all season, and while that has not always turned into results, it did on Saturday, including his 18th home run of the year, a 429-foot shot off ex-Yankee Sonny Gray.
“He’s taken [the opportunities] and turned himself into a really prominent player,” manager Aaron Boone said. “We talk about unlucky and all that, he is the poster child. He’s hit so many balls on the screws for outs this year. Right now, he’s getting rewarded a little bit for it.
The high-powered offensive attack was enough support to get by with another rocky performance from Fried, who got tagged for a career-high-tying seven earned runs on eight hits across five-plus innings.
The left-hander owned a 1.92 ERA through his first 17 starts, but he has pitched to a 6.80 ERA over his past eight starts since July 1.
Devin Williams relieved Fried and struck out the side in the sixth inning before the Yankees added some insurance runs to give their highest-leverage relievers a break — at least until David Bednar entered to get the final out with a pair of runners on base, recording his third save as a Yankee.
Entering Saturday, Judge was batting just .172 with a .627 OPS in nine games since coming back from the injured list for a right elbow flexor strain.
But he looked more like himself against his former teammate, as the Yankees beat up on Gray for six runs across five innings.
“We have confidence in a lot of our guys. Tonight it just all came to fruition,” said Grisham, who was on base five times and recorded his 500th career hit with a single in the second inning. “A bunch of different guys up and down the lineup helping us out in a bunch of different ways, so it was a lot of fun to be a part of.”
After Masyn Winn took Fried deep for a three-run shot in the second inning to put the Cardinals (61-63) up 5-2, Judge led off the third inning with a home run.
Then in the fourth, the Yankees got a bunt single from Caballero — who provided a spark at the bottom of the order — and another single from Grisham before Rice clobbered a three-run shot to put the Yankees ahead for good.
“Obviously a great offensive performance tonight, up and down the lineup,” Boone said. “Just tough, gritty at-bats and then a lot of damage mixed in there.”
