Aaron Judge snaps HR drought with earth-shattering grand slam in comeback vs Red Sox

Much like Thursday night, the New York Yankees kicked off their Friday night matchup vs the Boston Red Sox going nowhere fast. Though they managed seven baserunners in the first six innings, they wasted a number of opportunities and let former Yankee Richard Fitts blank them through five frames.

But then the Red Sox had to go to the bullpen, which has been a problem for them of late. Manager Alex Cora's "wizardry" is losing its luster after he took this team as far as he could before signing a contract extension and then falling off a cliff.

In the bottom of the seventh, Cora called on Zack Kelly, whose most recent blowup came on Sept. 8 against the White Sox, where he allowed five earned runs in 1/3 of an inning. In Cora's defense, Kelly was tasked with handling the Yankees' 8-9-1 hitters.

But he walked Anthony Volpe and Alex Verdugo. Then Gleyber Torres singled through the left side to put the Yankees on the board and make it a 4-1 game. Cora was forced to make another move because it was about to spiral out of control.

It was too late, though. Cam Booser, to no surprise, walked Juan Soto to load the bases. The go-ahead run in Aaron Judge came to the plate, but the larger-than-life slugger was carrying a 16-game homerless streak — the longest of his career. After three pitches, the drought was over. Judge destroyed a grand slam into the Bronx night over the left field seats. He ran right into a 95 MPH Booser fastball over the plate.

Aaron Judge snaps HR drought with earth-shattering grand slam in Yankees' comeback vs Red Sox

Yankee Stadium was waiting for a moment to erupt, and they got it. The last three nights in New York have been filled with drama. Wednesday and Thursday featured walk-off wins thanks to Jazz Chisholm and Juan Soto. Friday was Judge announcing his return to the scene.

And, of course, he ended the Paw Patrol Curse. No more cartoons, Aaron! Never again. Let's hope the MVP frontrunner got it out of his system because the Yankees need him at his peak powers down the stretch and into the playoffs.

The Yankees haven't quite wrapped this one up yet, but they can at least play a bit more relaxed after the Orioles fell to the Detroit Tigers (and nearly got no-hit before Gunnar Henderson broke up the bid in the top of the ninth). Baltimore isn't handling their business, and the door is open for the Yankees to run away with it.

One walk-off at a time. One grand slam at a time. One frenzy-filled moment at a time. And it'll be even better if they can kick the Red Sox off the postseason ladder and into the thorn bushes.