Aaron Judge slugged the Yankees to a 7-6 win over the Orioles on Friday, going 2-for-4 with two home runs and four RBIs. Judge broke the scoreless tie with a three-run blast in the top of the third, then swatted a solo shot during his next at-bat in the fifth. It was already Judge's eighth two-homer game of the season, as he tends to hit dingers in bunches. His 36 round-trippers lead MLB, as do his 78 runs and 221 total bases. After a brief cold spell in late June and early July, Judge has gotten himself back on track with six homers and 12 RBIs over his last seven games. The AL MVP candidate pushed his OPS above 1.000 with the big game (1.003) and is up to 77 RBIs as well, bringing him close to the MLB lead. Judge is having his best season since 2017, which couldn't come at a better time for the 30-year-old superstar as he prepares for free agency. The Yankees are benefiting as well, as Judge has helped them to the best record in baseball thus far (65-30).
Seiya Suzuki paced Chicago's 15-2 win over Philadelphia by going 4-for-5 with a two-run homer, two runs scored, and a walk on Friday. Suzuki helped put the exclamation mark on the Cubs' blowout win with his two-run bomb in the top of the ninth, capping the first four-hit game of his MLB career. The four knocks extended his hitting streak to seven games and raised his average to .286, which is the highest it's been since April. After going 32 games without a dinger at one point, Suzuki has rediscovered his power stroke in July with three long balls in 14 games this month. The 27-year-old rookie has been raking all month long and has an absurd .400 batting average in July. Even if the power has been inconsistent, he's still helping fantasy squads with his solid batting average and five steals, making him an instant fantasy star in his first season after coming over from Japan.
Kyle Schwarber went 1-for-4 with a solo homer against the Cubs on Friday. Schwarber drilled a leadoff homer in the bottom of the first to give the Phillies an early 1-0 lead, but it was all downhill from there for Philly en route to a 15-2 spanking. The tater was Schwarber's NL-leading 30th of the year, marking the fourth time in five seasons (excluding 2020) that he's reached that mark. His power output has been especially impressive lately, as he's ripped 20 four-baggers with 37 RBIs and 37 runs over his last 45 games. He's only hitting .236 during that stretch and .209 overall, but the elite power numbers are well worth the subpar batting average. Schwarber is locked in as Philadelphia's leadoff man and is well on his way to his first 40-homer campaign, if not 50. His numbers could be even better down the stretch once Bryce Harper comes back from the IL.
Yu Darvish fired seven innings of one-run ball to earn the win against the Mets on Friday, yielding just four hits and one walk while striking out nine. Darvish outdueled Max Scherzer in a pitching matchup that lived up to the hype, racking up at least nine whiffs for the fourth time in his last five starts despite facing a Mets lineup with the third-lowest K rate against RHP coming into the game. Darvish has returned to being a strikeout machine after managing a paltry 7.2 K/9 over his first 13 starts of the season, ringing up 43 batters over his last 33 innings. The 35-year-old ace has been durable as well, completing at least seven frames in nine of his last 13 outings. Darvish is now 9-4 with a 3.28 ERA and 14 quality starts in 18 outings this year, not to mention 109 strikeouts in 115 1/3 innings. He has enormous upside for his next outing in Detroit against a pitiful Tigers lineup.
Willson Contreras helped power the Cubs to a 15-2 massacre of the Phillies on Friday, going 2-for-3 with a double, a solo homer, two runs scored, and two walks. Contreras kicked off the scoring for Chicago with his solo shot in the top of the fourth off Kyle Gibson, evening the score at 1-1. The long ball was his 14th of the year, tying Will Smith for the most in MLB by a catcher this season. Power has always been a big part of the three-time All-Star's game, as he's already topped 20 homers three times since debuting in 2016 and is on pace to do so again this year. He's not merely a slugger, either, as his .258 average is comfortably above league average and he's scored 50 runs as well. He's even stolen three bases, providing some occasional speed. The 30-year-old is having perhaps the best offensive season of his career to date and is setting himself up for a big payday when he reaches free agency this winter.
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