New York Yankees 8, Toronto Blue Jays 3
TORONTO — Aaron Judge hit a two-run homer on Wednesday night that gave him the much-awaited 61st home run of the season. With this, he tied the 1961 record of Roger Maris for the most home runs hit in an American League season. The New York Yankees won the game 8-3 ending their series against the Toronto Blue Jays with two victories and one loss.
The home run by Aaron Judge came off a sinker pitched by Jays’ Tim Mayza in the seventh inning. It also broke a tie and gave the Yankees a 5-3 lead over the Blue Jays. The New York power hitter despatched the 94.5 mph throw from the lefty to 394 feet over the left left-field fence.
According to the Stastcast at Rogers Centre, he drove the pitch at a speed of 117.4 mph and it took just 3.8 seconds to travel from the home plate to the railing on the left-field stand.
Aaron Judge was able to see the ball falling off the front of the stands and landing just below two spectators, who were attempting to catch it by reaching over a railing. Just as he was about to touch first base, he pumped his arm and slapped hands with Yankees’ infield coach Travis Chapman.
The ball ended up in the bullpen of the Toronto Blue Jays, where it was caught by their bullpen coach Matt Buschmann, who then gave it to the New York Yankees.
Both Aaron Judge’s mother and Roger Maris Jr. stood up from their front-row seats and gave each other a hug. The slugger appeared to be pointing toward them after he rounded second base, and the entire Yankees team congratulated him and hugged him after he crossed the plate.
Aaron Judge has now surpassed the milestone of 60 home runs that Babe Ruth set in 1927. It was the record for the major leagues until Maris took it over in 1961. The three superstars all accomplished those remarkable totals while playing for the Yankees.
Barry Bonds set the record for most home runs in the major leagues in 2001 with 73 while playing for the San Francisco Giants.
Aaron Judge had not hit a home run in seven games. His longest dry spell of the season came in the middle of August and lasted nine games. The slugger hit his first home run of the game in his fourth at-bat of the evening, putting an end to his streak of not hitting a home run in any of his previous 34 at-bats.
The Yankees have played 155 games so far this season, and there are still seven more games left in the regular season.
Aaron Judge leads the American League in both batting average (.313) and runs batted in (130). There is a possibility that he will become the first player to win the AL Triple Crown since Miguel Cabrera of Detroit had it in 2012.
The Yankees have now won nine of their last ten games and already had their 20th AL East championship clinched the night before.
In six and a half innings, Gerit Cole gave up three runs and three hits. Cole was perfect through the first five innings, but Danny Jansen hit a home run to start the sixth. Ron Guidry set the Yankees season record of 248 strikeouts in 1978, which Cole matched with his four.
Mitch White allowed the New York Yankees to score three runs in the first inning. But Toronto responded with three runs in the sixth inning, including a run-scoring single from Bo Bichette and a sacrifice fly from Vladimir Guerrero.
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Domingo Germán (203, 3.30 ERA) is set to start for the Yankees on Friday against Baltimore Orioles.
Can Aaron Judge reach 65 home runs this season?
