BALTIMORE — At least for one night, all was right with the Yankees’ world again, or at least right enough.
Aaron Judge looked like his typical self, and he didn’t have to do it alone.
Sparked by a three-hit night from Judge, including his first home run since returning from the injured list, the Yankees’ offense broke out for an 8-3 win over the Orioles on Saturday night in front of a sellout crowd at Camden Yards.
Giancarlo Stanton and Kyle Higashioka also homered and Isiah Kiner-Falefa turned in the best at-bat of the night, a 10-pitch battle that ended in a three-run double that gave the Yankees (55-49) some much-needed breathing room in the sixth inning.
All in all, the Yankees’ lineup, which was in need of some juice beyond just Judge, piled up 12 hits.
Their eight runs tied the most they had scored in any game this month.
But there was nothing that could overshadow how encouraging Judge has looked in his first two games after he missed nearly two months with a torn ligament in his right big toe.
After he served as DH on Friday and went 0-for-1 with three walks, Judge started in right field Saturday and was even more productive.
Right after the Orioles (63-41) took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the second inning, Judge put the Yankees ahead in the top of the third with a 442-foot, two-run homer.
It was his team-leading 20th home run of the season, and his 41st and 42nd RBIs, good for second behind Gleyber Torres’ 44.
It also was Judge’s first homer since June 3, the night he got injured at Dodger Stadium.
After Judge’s blast, the Yankees led the rest of the night.
Clarke Schmidt, facing an Orioles lineup loaded with left-handed bats, gave up three runs over five gutsy innings before Ian Hamilton and Nick Ramirez combined to retire the final 12 batters.
Both Harrison Bader and Anthony Volpe made outs at third base, so it was not a perfect night for the Yankees, but it was a much-needed step in the right direction that will only mean something if they can win the rubber ggame of the series on Sunday night.
Stanton put the Yankees ahead 1-0 in the first inning, clobbering a 427-foot home run, which came off the bat at 115.8 mph, against right-hander Tyler Wells.
The Yankees then had the leadoff man on in the second inning, but could not build on their lead due in part to a costly mistake.
Bader, who reached on a forceout, stole second and took third on a throwing error with one out.
But he took too big of a secondary lead and was picked off third by catcher Adley Rutschman.
The Orioles then took the lead in the bottom of the inning. Ryan Mountcastle led off by drilling a home run to right field off Schmidt to tie the score.
Adam Frazier followed with a double to the right-field corner and came around to score on a two-out, infield single to shortstop by Ramon Urias to make it 2-1.
After Judge’s two-run homer in the third, the Yankees made it 4-2 in the fourth when Bader singled and came in to score on Torres’ sacrifice fly.
Then, after Schmidt got a big strikeout to strand the tying run at third in the bottom of the fifth, the Yankees pulled away in the top of the sixth.
A solo homer from Higashioka (3-for-4) made it 5-3 before three straight one-out singles from Judge, Stanton and Anthony Rizzo loaded the bases.
With two outs, Kiner-Falefa came up and fell behind 0-2 before fouling off four pitches and working the count full. Then, on the 10th pitch of the at-bat, he ripped a bases-clearing double to left field that made it 8-3.
