Aaron Judge ends 16-game home run drought with decisive grand slam in victory over the Red Sox

Aaron Judge ended the longest home run drought of his career in Friday night's 5-4 win over the Boston Red Sox. The New York Yankees batter had not hit a home run in his last 16 games.

However, Judge chose the ideal moment to fix his blackout and did so with maximum drama. The Yankees hitter hit a grand slam off Red Sox relief pitcher Cam Booser in the seventh inning to take a 5-4 lead, erasing a 4-0 deficit early in the inning.

Booser would have preferred to have that pitch back when he hammered a 96 mph four-seam fastball right down the middle of the plate. Judge didn't miss the ball, even though it was tipped for him, and the 16-game home run drought was finally over.

Judge last hit a home run on August 25, when he hit his 50th and 51st of the season against the Colorado Rockies. At the time, he seemed to be on pace for his third 60-home run season. He hadn't hit a home run since he appeared in cartoon form in the “Paw Patrol” spin-off “Rubble & Crew.” The “Paw Patrol” curse now appears to be broken.

With 14 games left in the regular season, 60 is still within reach. Nevertheless, he is on track to finish the season with 57 home runs.

After hitting a flyout to center field in the first inning, Judge also set his longest streak of batting appearances without a home run at 70. In his rookie season in 2017, Judge had 69 batting appearances without a home run, although he later struck out 52 and was named American League Rookie of the Year.

With a 2-for-4 batting average on Friday, Judge may have also ended his slump from September, when he had just a .195 batting average (8-for-41) and a .570 OPS. It was his worst month of the season since April, when he had a .207 batting average and a .754 OPS.

With the win, the Yankees extended their lead in first place by one game over the Baltimore Orioles, who lost 1-0 to the Detroit Tigers on Friday – and barely managed a single hit. New York now leads the O's by three games and has pushed the Red Sox five games out of the AL's third wild-card playoff spot.