Aaron Judge powered a late, rain-soaked walk-off homer against the Tampa Bay Rays to snap an 11-game home run-less streak and break a rare Yankees franchise mark: multiple career walk-off homers in games tied 0-0.
Rain hung over Yankee Stadium, but Aaron Judge stayed locked in—right up until the moment his swing finally turned the night.
On Sunday, the New York Yankees were stuck in a 0-0 deadlock late inside the Bronx. Then Judge sent one over the right-center field wall with a walk-off home run to lift New York to a 2-0 win. The blast wasn’t just a finishing flourish; it snapped an 11-game home run-less streak that had been weighing on his season and on every Yankees fan watching his at-bats grow quieter.
Judge’s heroics also came with a piece of Yankees history that doesn’t show up often. He became the only player in franchise history to hit multiple career walk-off home runs in games tied 0-0. The comparison list is specific and star-studded: Alex Rodriguez (8/7/08). Rubén Sierra (7/22/04). Graig Nettles (6/3/81). Reggie Jackson (9/14/77). Joe Pepitone (5/18/69)—and then Judge. who joins the record for adding more than one such walk-off in 0-0 games. including today and 7/28/22.
After the win, Judge pointed to the moment outside the batter’s box as well. “Man, what a roar,” he told Yankees YES Network reporter Meredith Marakovits. “I appreciate y’all staying. I know there’s some bad weather.”
That mattered because the home run-less skid hadn’t just changed the scoreboard—it had changed the rhythm around him. Judge came into the weekend averaging .250 at the plate this season, his lowest since 2023. Through the first 53 games, he had managed just 48 hits. His strikeout totals had also climbed, with Judge going down 67 times—an average of 1.2 strikeouts each game.
For Yankees manager Aaron Boone, the answer to whether the slump was real didn’t come from doubt. Boone never wavered. Speaking after the game, Boone said Judge “swung the bat well” on Friday, a belief that signaled the skid was headed toward an end.
By the time Judge delivered his walk-off, the pressure had finally found a way out—first on the scoreboard, then in the record books, and finally in the roar that rose anyway, even through the rain-soaked conditions.
Aaron Judge New York Yankees Tampa Bay Rays walk-off home run 0-0 tie Yankee Stadium MLB Aaron Boone