Yankees hit three homers in 8th inning to earn another comeback victory over Nationals
Trent Grisham of the Yankees watches his ball as he hits a go-ahead two run home run against the Nationals during the eighth inning on July 11, 2026 in Washington, D.C. Credit: Getty Images/Jess Rapfogel
WASHINGTON — The Yankees got down to business a little faster this time.
Ryan McMahon, Trent Grisham and Paul Goldschmidt homered in the eighth inning to erase a two-run deficit in a 4-2 victory over the Washington Nationals on Saturday afternoon.
On Friday night, they waited until the ninth to go ahead, as Jazz Chisholm Jr. belted a two-run homer and Austin Wells added a solo shot in a 5-3 win over the Nationals.
The two victories over Washington gave Aaron Boone his 750th victory as Yankees manager. The Yankees (53-42), who have won three straight games, remained four games behind AL East-leading Tampa Bay.
Washington leads the major leagues with 27 blown saves.
The Yankees fell behind on Cam Schlittler's first pitch of the game, a 98.5-mph four-seam fastball, as James Wood turned on the inside pitch and hit his 27th homer. Curtis Mead went deep two batters later, belting his 16th homer on a cutter at the top of the strike zone to give the Nationals a 2-0 lead, which they held until the eighth.
Orlando Ribalta allowed a 416-foot solo shot by McMahon with one out and walked Ben Rice, who went 2-for-2 with two walks. Clayton Beeter (3-2) relieved Ribalta and Grisham greeted him with a drive to the second deck in rightfield for a 3-2 lead. Goldschmidt made it back-to-back homers with his first long ball since June 24. He had two hits on Friday after going 0-for-34.
Reliever Brent Headrick (5-1) got the win and David Bednar, who pitched two innings Friday, worked the ninth for his 18th save in 20 chances and his 16th straight scoreless outing.
The Yankees and Nationals rank 1-2 in baseball in home runs, and 13 of the 14 runs in this series have come via the long ball.
Schlittler was sharp after the first inning, working into the seventh, but those early runs were enough to raise his American League-leading ERA from 2.01 to 2.05.
Washington's Miles Mikolas allowed four hits in four innings after opener PJ Poulin got the first five outs.
Wood had his second straight three-hit game and has nine leadoff homers this season, tying the Nationals record set by Alfonso Soriano in 2006.
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