BALTIMORE — Aaron Judge hit his 33rd homer for his first RBI in over a week, and the New York Yankees took the opener of their three-game set with AL East-leading Baltimore, beating the Orioles 4-1 on Friday night.
Benches cleared and there was some pushing and shoving in the bottom of the ninth after Orioles outfielder Heston Kjerstad was hit around the ear flap of his helmet by Clay Holmes' pitch.
Gerrit Cole (2-1) pitched six solid innings for the Yankees, who pulled within a game of first place. Baltimore has dropped four in a row.
The teams met for the first time since the Orioles took two of three in New York last month. Since then, the Yankees are 6-13 and Baltimore is 8-12. That has allowed Boston to creep to within 5 1/2 games of the division lead.
Cole allowed a run and five hits, throwing 106 pitches in his longest outing — by both innings and pitches — since returning from elbow problems in the middle of June.
''I just stopped missing like left and right on the glove-side part of the plate,'' Cole said. ''I felt confident being able to get the ball there to the left-handers, and the fastball in to the right-handers was really good.''
Three relievers finished, with Holmes working a hitless ninth for his 21st save in 26 chances.
With one out, a 97 mph pitch by Holmes hit Kjerstad in the helmet. After a delay, Kjerstad was able to get up but left the game. Then things escalated, with Orioles manager Brandon Hyde walking toward the New York dugout and pointing, at which point Yankees catcher Austin Wells tried to restrain Hyde but benches and bullpens emptied.
