NEW YORK — Juan Soto hit a game-ending single leading off the 10th inning to lift the New York Yankees over the Boston Red Sox 2-1 Thursday night as Aaron Judge’s homerless streak stretched to a career-high 16 games.
With pinch-runner Jon Berti on second as the automatic runner, Soto reached out for a sinker on the outside corner and grounded a single against Josh Winckowski (4-2) just past the glove shortstop Trevor Story, who tried for a diving, backhand grab.
Center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela’s one-hop throw was up the third-base line and Berti slid in head first ahead of catcher Connor Wong’s attempt for a lunging tag to give the Yankees back-to-back walk-off wins for the first time since May 8 and 9, 2021, against Washington.
Soto was mobbed in the infield and said he will remember his first walk-off hit for the Yankees.
“The crowd, my teammates and everybody, I mean, those guys they were running hard on me,” he said. “I just did not know where to go.”
Judge, who leads the major leagues with 51 homers and 126 RBIs, went 1 for 4 with a single and is batting .207 (12 for 58) with 21 strikeouts since Aug. 26. He went homerless in 15 games from Aug. 17 through Sept. 2 in 2017.
ROCKIES 4, TIGERS 2
DETROIT — Jacob Stallings’ RBI double in the ninth inning helped the Colorado Rockies beat the Detroit Tigers 4-2 on Thursday afternoon.
The Tigers began the day three games behind the Minnesota Twins for the third American League wildcard spot and Cy Young favorite Tarik Skubal on the mound.
With the score tied at 2, Brendan Rodgers led off the ninth with a single off Jason Foley (3-6) and took second on a passed ball. Stallings hit a flare into right field that got past Matt Vierling, allowing Stallings to take second.
Pinch-runner Nolan Jones moved to third on a groundout and Jake Cave made it 4-2 with a long sacrifice fly.
Tyler Kinley pitched the ninth inning, retiring Zach McKinstry with runners at the corners for his 12th save.
CARDINALS 6, REDS 1
ST. LOUIS — Masyn Winn and Brendan Donovan each homered to help St. Louis beat Cincinnati.
Cardinals starting pitcher Sonny Gray (13-9) was perfect through five innings before Jake Fraley singled to leadoff the sixth. He finished the day allowing one run on two hits and two walks while striking out nine batters in six innings.
Andrew Kittredge pitched 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief before JoJo Romero got the final four outs for his first save of the season.
Thomas Saggese singled to center to drive in Lars Nootbaar for his first career RBI in the eighth inning after getting his first major league hit in the sixth.
ASTROS 6, ATHLETICS 3
HOUSTON — Jason Heyward hit a two-run homer early and Jon Singleton had three hits, capped by a tiebreaking RBI single in Houston’s four-run eighth inning, and the Astros got a win over Oakland.
Brent Rooker homered off Ryan Pressly (2-3) with one out in the eighth to tie it at 2-all.
Yainer Diaz and Kyle Tucker hit consecutive singles with one out in the eighth to chase T.J. McFarland (2-3) and bring on Grant Holman. There were two outs in the inning when Singleton’s single to center field scored Diaz to put the Astros on top.
Jake Meyers followed with a run-scoring double before the Athletics intentionally walked Heyward to load the bases. Mauricio Dubón singled on a ground ball to left field to score two more, pushing the lead to 6-2.
Tyler Nevin hit a solo homer off Josh Hader with one out in the ninth before the closer retired the next two batters to end it.
MARLINS 6, NATIONALS 3
WASHINGTON — Jake Burger had three hits, Jonah Bride and Connor Norby had two RBIs apiece and Miami scored three unearned runs off three errors in a victory over Washington in the opener of a three-game series.
Bride had a game-tying single in the eighth inning and Otto Lopez put the Marlins ahead when his fielder’s choice grounder was mishandled two batters as Miami snapped a three-game losing streak and improved to 2-9 against the Nationals this season.
Washington, which has dropped three of its last four, lost its 81st game, assuring its fifth straight season without a winning record since its 2019 World Series title.
RAYS 5, GUARDIANS 2
CLEVELAND — Brandon Lowe homered, Tampa Bay’s bullpen held Cleveland to one hit over seven innings and the Rays snapped a three-game losing streak on a rugged trip with a win over the AL Central-leading Guardians.
Lowe connected for his 18th homer in the first inning off Gavin Williams (3-9).
The Rays were swept earlier this week in a three-game series at NL East-leading Philadelphia. They improved to 3-4 on the 10-game trip, which started in AL East-leading Baltimore and finishes Sunday in Cleveland.
Tampa Bay will be the first MLB team to face three division leaders on the same trip in September or later.
Cole Sulser (1-0) took over for Rays starter Ryan Pepiot in the third and pitched three hitless innings. Richard Lovelady worked the ninth for his second save.
YANKEES 2, RED SOX 1
NEW YORK (AP) — Juan Soto hit a game-ending single leading off the 10th inning to lift New York over Boston as Aaron Judge’s homerless streak stretched to a career-high 16 games.
With pinch-runner Jon Berti on second as the automatic runner, Soto grounded a single against Josh Winckowski (4-2) just past the glove of diving shortstop Trevor Story, and Berti slid home ahead of center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela’s throw to give the Yankees back-to-back walk-off wins for the first time in three years.
Judge, who leads the major leagues with 51 homers and 126 RBIs, went 1 for 4 with a single and is batting .207 (12 for 58) with 21 strikeouts since Aug. 26.
BREWERS 3, GIANTS 0
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Jackson Chourio hit a two-run home run, Frankie Montas pitched six scoreless innings, and Milwaukee beat San Francisco to take another step toward clinching the NL Central.
The Brewers, who hold a nine-game lead over Chicago in the division, took two of three from the Giants and reduced their magic number to seven.
The game was scoreless until Milwaukee’s Willy Adames reached base with a walk in the seventh and rounded the bases on three Camilo Doval (0-1) wild pitches. Milwaukee added to the lead when Chourio hit a two-run shot off Spencer Bivens in the eighth, scoring Brice Turang after he reached on an infield single.
The 20-year-old Chourio became the youngest player with a 20-homer, 20-stolen base season in MLB history.
RANGERS 5, MARINERS 4
SEATTLE (AP) — Nathaniel Lowe drove in the go-ahead run for Texas with an infield single during a three-run eighth inning, hit a solo homer in the seventh, and the Rangers erased a three-run deficit for a win over Seattle in top prospect Kumar Rocker’s major league debut.
After Lowe made it a 4-2 game with his seventh-inning homer, Marcus Semien brought Texas within one with a solo homer off Collin Snider (3-3) in the eighth.
Josh Smith reached on an error, Wyatt Langford doubled, and Adolis García drove in Smith on a groundout to shortstop to tie the game at 4-4.
Lowe then hit an infield single to second base to score Langford from third.
Rocker struck out seven while allowing one run on three hits over four innings in his first big league start. The only run he allowed came on a solo homer from Justin Turner in the fourth.