New York Yankees 5, Minnesota Twins 2
NEW YORK — Aaron Judge kept up his fast pace and hit his 54th home run, giving him the lead in the major leagues. It was his 3rd home run in three days, and it helped the New York Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins 5-2 on Monday.
Judge has hit a home run in five of the AL East’s last seven games. In the 6th inning, when the score was tied at 2-2, he hit a 3-1 slider from Trevor Megill (3-2) into the 2nd deck in left, breaking the tie.
The power-hitting All-Star reached 54 home runs in his 131st game at Yankee Stadium. He is on track to hit 65 home runs, which would be four more than Roger Maris, who set the AL record for home runs in 1961 with 61. Judge hit his 54th home run in New York’s 135th game.
Judge has scored five of the last eight runs for New York. He has also hit a double. He hit solo home runs in the last two games at Tampa Bay. On Sunday, he scored when rookie Oswaldo Cabrera hit a sacrifice fly, and on Monday, he scored when Josh Donaldson hit a single in the first inning.
The most recent hit by Judge came after Gary Sanchez hit a home ball that was 473 feet long and went into the left-field bleachers in the fifth inning off of Jameson Taillon, which tied the game at 2.
Sanchez hit a 1-0 sinker for a home run, which was his 14th home run since the Yankees traded him and Gio Urshela to the Twins for Donaldson, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, & Ben Rortvedt on March 13.
After making contact, Sánchez watched the ball soar into the stands, threw his bat, and started running around the bases as some of his teammates pounded on the dugout rail.
Marwin Gonzalez also blasted a home run for the Yankees, breaking his hitless streak of 29 games dating back to July 6 with his first hit of the season. During the seventh inning, Kiner-Falefa hit his second home run of the season.
Greg Weissert (2-0) won the second game of his career by pitching 1 1/3 innings. The pitcher from Long Island made up for errors in the 6th and was replaced by Wandy Peralta after two walks in the 7th.
Clay Holmes earned his 19th save with a perfect 1-2-3 ninth inning.
Judge scored when he hit a double and again when Donaldson hit a single off the base of the wall in left field. Judge hit a home run right before Donaldson, who seemed to think he had hit a home run, was tagged out at second.
When Gonzalez blasted a slider into the seats in right field in the third inning, New York was able to take a 2-0 lead.
UP NEXT
Tuesday, Minnesota RHP Joe Ryan (10-7, 3.88 ERA) goes up against New York RHP Gerrit Cole (10-7, 3.28). Cole gave up five home runs on June 9 in Minnesota, which was the highest number in his career.
Does the win mean the Yankees have stopped the slide? How was Aaron Judge’s performance? Can New York win the series and the AL East?
