Yankees beat Red Sox as Aaron Judge rises on Bombers' all-time home run list
Published in Baseball
BOSTON — Aaron Judge continued his ascent in the Yankees’ record books on Friday, as he crushed the 362 nd home run of his career in the first inning of the team’s series-opener at Fenway Park.
The solo shot off Red Sox right-hander Lucas Giolito gave Judge sole ownership of fourth place on the Bombers’ all-time home run list, as he had tied Joe DiMaggio with a two-homer game in Thursday’s win over the Tigers. Friday’s contest also resulted in a win, as the early lead Judge provided preempted a 4-1 victory that also featured six scoreless and erratic-but-hitless innings from Luis Gil.
With their highly-anticipated three-game set in Boston starting on a high note, the Yankees now have a 1.5-game lead over the Red Sox as both teams chase the Blue Jays in the American League East. The Bombers trail the Jays by three games.
Having jump-started the Yankees’ offense, Judge now has 47 home runs this season. Feasting on a 92.5-mph Giolito fastball in the middle of the plate, he sent the pitch 468 feet over The Green Monster and out of Fenway Park at 112.6 mph.
With Yogi Berra also recently surpassed on the Yankees’ all-time home run list— the top-five had gone unchanged since 1957 — Judge, now in his 10 th season, will have to wait a bit before moving up another spot.
Third place belongs to Lou Gehrig, who hit 493 home runs over his 17-year career with the Yankees. Mickey Mantle, who clubbed 536 longballs over his 18-year career in pinstripes, holds second place.
Babe Ruth is first on the list. The Sultan of Swat launched 659 of his 714 homers while starring for the Yankees.
With Gehrig and Ruth hitting from the left side and Mantle using both, Judge’s 362 home runs are the most by a right-handed hitter in Yankees history.
Following Judge’s latest milestone, the Yankees added another run in the third inning when Ben Rice hit what appeared to be an inning-ending flyout to left. However, Carlos Narváez was called for catcher interference after the Yankees failed to challenge a similar call in a timely manner in the first inning. Cody Bellinger went on to hit a two-out single that brought Judge home.
The Bombers scored again in the seventh inning when José Caballero, starting in place of the aching and scuffling Anthony Volpe, hit a ground-rule double, stole third and raced home on a fielder’s choice, which led to a throwing error and was followed by an intentional walk to Judge and an RBI single from Rice.
Gil, meanwhile, continued to struggle with his command, but that didn’t hurt the Yankees with Boston unable to hit the hard-throwing righty for six scoreless frames. It wasn’t until the seventh that the Red Sox finally picked up a hit, as Nate Eaton cleared The Green Monster with a solo home run off Fernando Cruz.
Gil, making his eighth start of the year after a spring training lat injury delayed his season debut, totaled four walks, four strikeouts and 93 pitches, two of which were wild.
The fifth inning presented his biggest jam, as it began with him issuing a leadoff walk, a wild pitch and another walk before balking. However, he worked in and out of one-out trouble and through problems with his PitchCom by recording a strikeout and a lineout.
Devin Williams, meanwhile, stranded a runner on second in the eighth when Ryan McMahon made a backhanded stab at a soft grounder down the line and fired to a scooping Paul Goldschmidt, who had entered the game as a defensive sub for Rice in the seventh.
David Bednar recorded the final three outs in succession, securing a key divisional win for the Yankees with 15 games left in the regular season.
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