TAMPA, Fla. — The New York Yankees tied their single-game home run record with nine when José Caballero blasted a solo shot in the ninth inning of a 13-3 walloping of the Tampa Bay Rays at George M. Steinbrenner Field past midnight on Wednesday.
New York’s single-game homer record was set March 29 in a 20-9 rout of the Milwaukee Brewers at Yankee Stadium. They are the first team to record multiple nine-homer games in a season.
“To do it twice (in a season), that’s remarkable,” manager Aaron Boone said. “And there were some (home runs) that were seriously hit, too. Just a really impressive offensive showing against a team that obviously is not always easy to score runs against.”
The Yankees once again fell one home run short of the MLB single-game record of 10 set by the Toronto Blue Jays in 1987.
This latest feat happened after a two-hour delay due to heavy rains and lightning that formed over the area before the scheduled 7:35 first pitch.
In all, six Yankees homered against the Rays, including two-homer efforts from Caballero, Giancarlo Stanton and Cody Bellinger. Ben Rice, Aaron Judge and Jazz Chisholm Jr. each contributed a homer, with Judge, Bellinger and Stanton going back-to-back-to-back in the first inning off Tampa Bay starter Shane Baz, who gave up five blasts.
“That was really fun,” said Bellinger, who also played all three outfield positions, becoming the first Yankees player to do so since Ichiro Suzuki in 2012.
NINE HOME RUNS FOR THE @YANKEES 😳 pic.twitter.com/rb8qch3j5V
— MLB (@MLB) August 20, 2025
Judge’s blast was his 40th of the year, marking the first time in his career he has had back-to-back 40-home-run seasons. He’s the fifth Yankee to have consecutive 40-homer seasons, along with Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Jason Giambi and Curtis Granderson.
Judge also hit the longest home run of the night, a 429-foot shot that clanked off the top of the batter’s eye in center field.
Caballero’s shots might have been a bit of retribution. The Rays traded him to the Yankees at the July 31 deadline, and it was his first career multi-homer game. Tampa Bay played a tribute video for him before the game.
Caballero wasn’t surprised by the Yankees’ feat.
“That’s why they are the Bronx Bombers,” he said.
Caballero joked that Judge and Stanton were rubbing off on him.
“Hanging out with those guys, something has to be contagious,” he said.
The Yankees, who tallied eight homers by the sixth inning, hit all of their blasts off pitchers; not one position player pitched for the Rays.
With the win, plus losses from the Boston Red Sox and Seattle Mariners, New York put itself atop the wild-card standings by one game. The Yankees are also in sole possession of second place in the American League East. They sit five games back of the first-place Toronto Blue Jays.
(Photo: Julio Aguilar / Getty Images)