With Yankee Stadium hosting Superman Night on Friday, Aaron Judge looked the part — in cardboard boxes and the batter’s box.

The Yankees celebrated the Man of Steel by giving a Superman-themed Judge bobblehead to the first 18,000 people who walked through the door. Those same fans then saw Judge show off his otherworldly strength in the Yankees’ 5-3 loss to the Orioles, as his solo home run off Tomoyuki Sugano in the third inning broke a 2-2 tie.

“I haven’t seen it,” Judge jokingly said of the figurine. “I didn’t get one. They usually don’t give us any down here, so I need to make a phone call.”

Judge now has 27 homers this season. Only Seattle’s Cal Raleigh has more with 29.

The evening — complete with 3 Doors Down’s “Kryptonite” blasting through the loudspeakers mid-game — also saw Judge collect two singles and an intentional walk. While he struck out against Félix Bautista in the ninth, Judge had previously been 3-for-27 with 16 punchouts over his last eight games. Despite the rut, the Yankees reasonably spent the past week unconcerned over the reigning MVP’s first slump of the year.

While Judge hardly commented on it, Aaron Boone said he noticed a slight change in the placement of the slugger’s hands, which appeared to be higher on Friday.

“I thought he put a lot of good swings on tonight,” Boone said. “I thought he was better at really finding the timing.”

While the Yankees were happy to see Judge put his funk behind him, Ramón Urías spoiled the Bombers’ night and Luke Weaver’s return from a hamstring injury with a go-ahead, solo home run in the eighth inning.

Weaver had previously allowed just two home runs this season, but Urías, a low-key Yankee killer, took advantage of the Bronx’s short right field porch and sent a fastball over the glove of a leaping Judge. He was Weaver’s first at-bat of the night.

“It was pretty devastating to see it go over, so obviously not the start I was looking forward to,” Weaver said. “Definitely felt like I let the team down in that moment.”

Tim Hill then inherited two runners from Weaver before Gunnar Henderson drove in an insurance run with a single.

Asked if he felt good physically after skipping a rehab assignment, Weaver said, “I feel great. The only thing that hurts is my heart and my mind.”

While the last-place Orioles rallied late, Max Fried put the first-place pinstripers at an immediate disadvantage, as ex-Yankee Gary Sánchez picked up a two-run single in the first after the lefty hit two batters and loaded the bases.

Fried needed 29 pitches to get through the first as he struggled with his leg kick.

“I was off a little bit, just out of sync mechanically and just didn’t really have a good feel for any of my pitches, really,” Fried said. “I tried to make some pitches, and [there’s] no excuses for hitting two guys in an inning and getting bases loaded and then giving up a hit, putting us in a hole. So definitely frustrating.”

Fried settled in after the first. The only other run he allowed came on a Coby Mayo single in the sixth inning.

That knock prompted a mound visit from Boone. Fernando Cruz, thinking he had been summoned, began running in from the bullpen, but Fried talked his way into finishing the frame.

“I just was able to make eye contact with him, and he didn’t signal,” said Fried, who also totaled seven hits, zero walks, seven strikeouts and 105 pitches. “When he came to the mound, I just told him I’m confident I can get these guys.”

Sugano also struggled out of the gate, as Jazz Chisholm Jr. had an RBI single in the first before Jasson Domínguez lofted a sac fly.

The Yankees came close to scoring again in the fourth when Ramón Laureano threw DJ LeMahieu out at home to end the inning. Replay seemed to show LeMahieu getting in under Sánchez’s tag, but a lack of conclusive evidence led to the original call being upheld after a review.

The Yankees had plenty of other chances to cross the plate, but they went 3-for-13 with runners in scoring position and left 10 on base. While their offense broke out for seven runs in Thursday’s win over the Angels, Friday’s performance marked another light night for a lineup that had to snap a 30.1-inning scoreless streak earlier in the week.

“That’s better than not having anybody on,” Judge said, noting the Yankees’ lack of recent traffic. “It’s moving in the right direction. All good teams go through little slumps or situations where it’s not going your way, but you just gotta keep trekking. Gotta keep moving forward.”

Having dropped the series-opener, the Yankees have now lost seven of their last eight games. They will try to avoid another series loss on Saturday when Clarke Schmidt takes the mound.

While the Yankees’ entire offense is lacking consistency, Anthony Volpe will hope for better luck against O’s right-hander Zach Eflin. The shortstop is in an 0-for-24 freefall and could use an off day, but Boone said that likely won’t come until Sunday.

“Tough night, and now, a tough few games here. Just gotta get on time,” the skipper said after Volpe went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. “I feel like he’s a little late in getting into position.”

Originally Published: June 20, 2025 at 10:38 PM EDT