NEW YORK – Aaron Judge ended the longest home run drought of his major league career in the loudest way possible on Friday night.

With the New York Yankees trailing by three runs in the seventh inning against the Boston Red Sox, Judge hit a grand slam that put the team ahead and hit his 52nd home run of the season, making him the season’s all-time major leaguer. The hit drew thunderous cheers from Yankee Stadium, with chants of MVP prompting Judge to come out for the final applause.

The hit was Judge’s eighth career grand slam. He had played in 16 games, 60 at-bats and 75 plate appearances since his last home run on August 25 against the Colorado Rockies.

The anticipation of this possibility was already growing earlier in the inning.

Red Sox right-hander Justin Slaten began the bottom of the seventh inning with a full count to Anthony Volpe and Alex Verdugo, walking the batter both times. Gleyber Torres followed with a single to bring Volpe home from second base for the Yankees’ first run of the night.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora then replaced Slaten with left-hander Cam Booser, who had to find a way with Juan Soto and Judge, the most productive offensive duo in baseball.

Booser decided to pitch around Soto, running him far out of the strike zone and forward on four pitches to load the bases. With each pitch, the decibel level reached a new high. By the fourth pitch, Yankee Stadium was in a frenzy. Soto threw his bat. Judge strolled to the plate. Booser was in trouble.

Booser fell behind Judge with a cutter in the dirt and a fastball that appeared to be in the strike zone. Booser was forced to attack Judge and threw a 96 mph fastball up the middle to Judge, who struck out and didn’t miss.

The score remained and the Yankees beat the Red Sox 5-4.