Aaron Judge broke out of a slump with his 34th home run, regaining sole possession of the major league lead, and Chase Headley sparked the New York Yankees at the plate Monday night in their 7-3 victory over the Detroit Tigers.
Luis Severino beat Michael Fulmer in a matchup of young All-Stars on the mound, though neither was at his best. Hours after the Yankees upgraded their rotation by acquiring Sonny Gray from Oakland at the trade deadline, Headley put the AL East leaders ahead to stay with a two-run double in a four-run fourth inning aided by second baseman Ian Kinsler's crucial error.
Todd Frazier followed with a two-run single, and Judge hit a solo shot in the fifth to snap a tie with Miami slugger Giancarlo Stanton atop the leaderboard. Headley finished with three hits as New York won for the ninth time in 11 games.
Severino (8-4) needed a career-high 116 pitches to get through five innings but still won his third consecutive start. He allowed one run and struck out eight.
The right-hander was checked by a trainer early after grabbing at his leg, but appeared to be fine the rest of the way.
Aroldis Chapman entered with the bases loaded in the ninth and got two outs for his 13th save in 16 attempts
Fulmer (10-9) was touched up for seven runs, six earned, and seven hits over six-plus innings. Last season's AL Rookie of the Year has lost three straight starts.
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James McCann hit an RBI double and Jim Adduci had an RBI single for the fourth-place Tigers, who also made a trade earlier in the day. Selling off veterans for talented prospects, Detroit sent reliever Justin Wilson and catcher Alex Avila to the World Series champion Chicago Cubs for minor league infielders Jeimer Candelario and Isaac Paredes and a player to be named or cash.
Adduci made a leaping catch at the right-field wall in the sixth to steal a two-run homer from Frazier, who tipped his helmet in response.
Clint Frazier hit an RBI triple in the seventh for New York and scored on Gary Sanchez's sacrifice fly.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Tigers: SS Jose Iglesias was removed in the sixth. He appeared to be shaking his hand in discomfort after striking out. ... CF Mikie Mahtook was hit by a pitch twice - the second time in the helmet by a 98 mph fastball from Tommy Kahnle. The impact knocked Mahtook's helmet off his head and sent him sprawling to the ground, but apparently it was a glancing blow. Mahtook popped right up and yelled twice in frustration, then walked to first base and virtually ignored a trainer who came out to check on him. Mahtook finished the game.
Yankees: SS Didi Gregorius and OF Brett Gardner were rested.
ROSTER MOVES
In addition to obtaining Gray, the Yankees recalled RHP Jonathan Holder from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and traded minor league right-hander Yefry Ramírez to Baltimore for international signing bonus pool money.
UP NEXT
Tigers RHP Anibal Sanchez (2-1, 6.18 ERA) starts Tuesday night against Yankees LHP CC Sabathia (9-3, 3.66), who is 21-13 with a 4.11 ERA in his career against Detroit.