Aaron Judge Makes More History With Yet Another Multi-Home Run Game
NEW YORK — Aaron Judge's special season soared to new heights on Friday night at Yankee Stadium as the slugger continued to swing his way into the history books.
After crushing his third walk-off home run of the year to win Thursday night's game, Judge tallied his ninth multi-home run game of this season, whacking both his 40th and 41st homers of the year in an 11-5 comeback win over the Royals.
Judge is just the third player in Yankees franchise history to eclipse the 40-homer mark before the calendar flips to August, the first in the big leagues to accomplish such a remarkable feat since Barry Bonds and Luis Gonzalez did it in 2001.
"I haven't seen anything quite like this," Yankees starter Gerrit Cole said after Friday's win. "I don't think I've played with a guy that's hit 40 homers. It's July. I'm rooting for him. I wish I could have my phone on the bench like the rest of the fans that take a video during every one of his at-bats."
The slugger's first homer of the game came in the bottom of the third, a 449-foot no-doubter to the bleachers in left.
After ripping a 114.4-mph single in his third at-bat, Judge stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded in the eighth. Capping off an eight-run frame for New York's offense, the right fielder belted a grand slam to the opposite field.
Judge set a new franchise record with that grand slam, making Friday his ninth multi-home run game of this campaign. He's also the first player in baseball history to have nine games with multiple home runs through his team's first 101 games to start a season.
The 30-year-old is now hitting .297/.378/.668 across 98 games this year, driving in 89 runs while scoring 84 times. He leads the league with 6.1 fWAR. No other player has more than 5.0 fWAR in 2022.
"Just a special player doing really amazing things," Yankees manager Aaron Boone added, joking that Judge should've been credited with a third homer after his spectacular catch in the field, reaching over the right-field wall in the top of the first.
All year long, Judge has remained humble about his historic home run pace, often deflecting questions about his personal performance. Friday was no exception.
Asked about the fact that he's on pace for 66 home runs this year, a number that would break the all-time record for most in a single season by a player in the American League (set by Yankees great Roger Maris), Judge said the fact that the Yankees are in first place is more important.
"Like I've said 1,000 times, I'm focused on winning baseball right now," he explained. "The stats and stuff like that, we can talk about that at the end of the year."
At this rate, we'll all be talking about Judge's performance this season for years to come.
"A steady dose of amazingness every day," Cole added with a smile. "Pretty inspiring."
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