Judge hits 62nd HR, Yankees lose meaningless game 3-2
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ARLINGTON, Texas — Aaron Judge hit his American League-record of 62nd home run to start the nightcap. Gerrit Cole also set the franchise record for strikeouts in a single season, but the Yankees still lost 3-2 to the Texas Rangers to split the doubleheader at Globe Life Stadium.
After suffering a defeat by the score of 5-4 in the first game of the series, which extended the Rangers’ losing streak to seven games, Leody Taveras hit a two-run home run in the fifth inning of the second game to put the Rangers in the lead for good. The Yankees are the reigning champions of the AL East with 99 victories, while the Rangers have 67.
Aaron Judge hit a 1-1 slider from the Rangers’ starter Jesus Tinoco on the third pitch of the second game into the first row of seats in left field. This ended his long, exhausting quest to break Roger Maris’ AL record, which had stood since 1961.
Since August 5, Aaron Judge had played in 55 straight games for the Yankees, and his only home run in the previous 13 games was No. 61, which he hit last Wednesday in Toronto. In the first game, he went 1 for 5 with a single and scored the winning run.
After Aaron Judge hit a record-setting home run in the first inning, he came back up to bat in the second inning and struck out swinging against Kolby Allard. Yankees manager Aaron Boone took Judge out of the game after he had already moved to right field in the bottom of the second inning.
Gerrit Cole struck out nine batters, bringing his total to 257, the most in the major leagues. The right-hander came into the game tied with Ron Guidry’s 248 strikeouts in 1978, when Guidry won the AL Cy Young Award by going 25-3 with an ERA of 1.74. Cole went past Guidry when, in the first inning, he struck out the second batter for the Rangers, Nathaniel Lowe.
Allard (1-2) got six outs and walked one in four innings. Giancarlo Stanton‘s 31st home run in the fifth inning was the only run he gave up.
Taveras’s base-running error in Game 1 ended the game, but his fifth home run put Texas 3-2 ahead of the Yankees. It happened after Josh Donaldson’s fielding error put Sam Huff on base.
In the first game, Kyle Higashioka, Oswaldo Cabrera, and Oswaldo Peraza all hit solo home runs for the Yankees.
In the eighth inning, Higashioka hit a home run to straightaway center off reliever Brock Burke. Higashioka hit his 10th home run on June 12, which tied his career high. Then Judge hit a single with a line drive, and Harrison Bader’s single let him score.
In the fifth inning, Adolis Garca hit his 27th home run, a two-run shot that gave him 100 RBIs for the Rangers.
Aroldis Chapman got the win with a perfect seventh inning. Jonathan Loaisiga pitched the ninth inning and got his second save. He gave up a single, but the game ended with a double play when Taveras ran from second base too soon when Marcus Semien hit a liner to right.
In the first inning, Cabrera hit his sixth home run, and Peraza’s first home run in the major leagues tied the game at 2.
The ball hit by Peraza landed on the left-field bleacher, which was full to its capacity with the expectation for Aron Judge to hit the 62nd home-run ball. The man, who caught Peraza’s ball, was at the ballpark with his mom after Hurricane Ian flooded their home in Fort Myers, Florida, last week. They gave the ball to the Yankees, and in between games, they met Peraza.
Josh Jung, a rookie third baseman who was hitting .202 and had one out when he singled with one out in the eighth inning on Monday night, had a two-run single in the first.
UP NEXT
The final game of this season will take place on Wednesday, and it will feature the Yankees’ Dominigo German (2-4, 3.31 ERA) going up against Glenn Otto of the Texas Rangers (6-10, 4.72).
Will Aaron Judge get another tomorrow vs. the Rangers?
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