Fried Rice and 2 Judge HR’s. Yanks Tie for 1st! NY 8 ChiSox 1

September 25, 2025 paperbacklou 2025 0
Aaron Judge hits 3-run HR in 2nd to give Yanks a 3-1 lead. It was his 50th HR of the year.

For the first time this year, Max Fried started and Ben Rice was the catcher for a Fried Rice battery — and the two, along with Aaron Judge, stirred the Yanks to an 8-1 win over the White Sox on a beautiful, 75-degree Wednesday night in the Bronx.

The win combined with a Toronto loss to Boston put the Yankees in a 1st place tie with the Blue Jays — although Toronto holds the tie breaker (having won the season series) so NY still needs to gain a game on them with 4 to play to take the division and avoid the wild card series.

Fried was dominant on the mound — 7 innings of 4-hit, 1-run ball, striking out 7 and walking 2 to go 19-5 2.86 on the year. He allowed a run in the 2nd inning, but then got in rhythm and shut the door though the 7th.

Aaron Judge hit a 3-run HR in the bottom of the 2nd to put NY up 3-1, and Ben Rice hit a triple and scored off a Paul Goldschmidt single in the 3rd to put NY up 4-1. Jazz Chisholm Jr. followed with an RBI double and NY had a 5-1 lead, which they held for most of the game.

Trent Grisham added a 2-run HR in the 8th, and Aaron Judge followed with his 2nd HR of the game to make it 8-1.

Judge went 3-4 with a walk, raising his batting average to .328, while Jacob Wilson of the A’s went 0-4 to drop to .315 in the batting race.

“I feel like really the last couple of weeks he’s started to swing the bat really well again,” said manager Aaron Boone about Judge. “Just really good at bats night in and night out, at bat after at bat — obviously he gets pitched to so carefully so. Big tone setter for us tonite — big 3-run HR after we fell behind there, and took it from there. But another great evening for The Captain.”

NY is now 90-68, tied with Toronto for 1st, while Boston is 3 back. The White Sox fall to 58-100.

1. Fried Rice

Starting pitcher: Max Fried. Starting catcher: Ben Rice.

Fried pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 1st, but allowed a run in the 2nd on consecutive leadoff singles by Miguel Vargas and stud shortstop Colson Montgomery, and a sac fly by Lenyn Sosa.

The trouble grew worse when Jazz Chisholm made an error on a grounder by Corey Julks — putting runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 out.

But Fried got a fly out and a strike out and then rolled. Fried pitched most of the game with a 5-1 lead, and although he allowed a baserunner in almost every inning — never seemed to be in trouble. Fried:

  • Pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 3rd,
  • Allowed a 1-out double to stud shortstop Colson Montgomery in the 4th — but got a strikeout and flyout to end the threat,
  • Allowed a leadoff single in the 5th but got strikeout, groundout, and lineout to end the inning with the runner on 2nd,
  • Allowed a 1-out walk in the 6th but got a double play to end the inning, and
  • Allowed a 2-out walk in the 7th but got a fly out to end the inning and his outing.

2. Judge 3-run HR in 2nd — His 50th

The White Sox threw lefty reliever Fraser Ellard as an opener against the Yankees and he walked the bases loaded with nobody out in the bottom of the 1st — then went 3-0 on Giancarlo Stanton. But Stanton fouled off 2 strikes then flied out to shallow right, and Ben Rice — up 3-1 in the count — ended up striking out.

Ellard was then yanked and erstwhile starter Jonathan Cannon was brought in. He struck out Paul Goldschmidt so the Yankees squandered an incredible opportunity.

But NY went right back at Cannon in the bottom of the 2nd — a 1-out double off the wall in left by Anthony Volpe, a 2-out walk to Trent Grisham, and a 3-run HR to center by Aaron Judge — his 50th HR of the year. NY 3 ChiSox 1.

3. Rice Triple, Goldy Single, Jazz Double in 3rd

The Yanks attacked Cannon for more runs in the bottom of the 3rd — starting with a 1-out line shot to right center that went for a triple by Ben Rice.

Paul Goldschmidt followed with an RBI single — NY 4 ChisSox 1.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. doubled in Goldschmidt and it was 5-1 NY.

4. Devin Great in Relief

The the game stayed that way — 5-1 NY — for a good part of the night, as all eyes were on the scoreboard where Boston had a lead all night on Toronto — first 4-0 with Garrett Crochet shutting them down, then 7-1.

Devin Williams pitched the 8th for NY — and was filthy, again. A 1-2-3 inning — fly out, lineout, groundout.

5. Grisham & Judge Go Back to Back in 8th

Cam Booser pitched the 8th for the White Sox — and got the first 2 outs — before Ryan McMahon worked a walk and Trent Grisham hit a 93-MPH four-seam fastball 402 feet to center for a 7-1 NY lead.

That gave Aaron Judge another at bat in the game. He had hit a bloop single leading off the 7th so was 2 for 3 with a walk. And then he made that 3-for-4 with a walk by hitting a 395-foot HR to opposite-field right for an 8-1 NY lead.

6. Blackburn Finishes

Paul Blackburn — yet another terrific-thus-far reclamation project by the Yankees — pitched a shutout 9th: fly out, strike out, single, pop out for the old ballgame.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401697267

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