New York Yankees 5, Minnesota Twins 4
NEW YORK — Aaron Judge hit the most home runs in the major leagues with 55. Oswaldo Cabrera‘s single capped a two-run 12th inning, and the New York Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins 5-4 in the first game of a doubleheader on Wednesday.
As the AL East leaders clinched their 30th consecutive winning season in the 10th inning, Cabrera also threw out a runner who was attempting to reach the plate.
Judge hit his fourth home run in a row when he hit a changeup to left field in the fourth inning. This started New York’s comeback from being down 3-0. He beat Alex Rodriguez’s record of 54 home runs for the Yankees in 2007, which was the record for right-handed batters. Roger Maris hit 61 home runs for the Yankees in 1961, which was one more than Babe Ruth’s record of 60 in 1927.
Gleyber Torres hit a two-run home ball in the sixth inning off Griffin Jax to tie the game for the Yankees, who were short-handed due to injuries.
Trevor Megill (3-3) gave up a single that Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit to score a run and get the automatic runner. With one out, Kiner-Falefa stole second, and Jose Trevino hit a single to right field. He then ran to second as IFK made it back to third safely.
After Oswald Peraza hit a fly ball, Cabrera stepped up to the plate with a 0-for-25 slump. The first game took 4 hours and 3 minutes and ended when the rookie hit a single to left field from the opposite field.
Since 2002, New York has a 113-39 record versus the Twins, including their performance in the postseason.
Nine of New York’s 29 players had uniform numbers 80 or higher. Giancarlo Stanton, Anthony Rizzo, DJ LeMahieu, Josh Donaldson, Andrew Benintendi, and Matt Carpenter were all hurt or unavailable.
In the 10th inning, Arraez hit a single to right field as the game’s first batter. Celestino tried to score from second base, but Cabrera threw him out. It was Cabrera’s fifth outfield help since his first game on August 17.
Judge has hit six home runs in his last eight games and seven in his last 11. He has 114 at the new Yankee Stadium, which is one more than Mark Teixeira’s old record for the 2009-built ballpark.
Only two players have hit more home runs in a team’s first 136 games: Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs in 1999 & Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants in 2001.
With an overall record of 82-54, New York’s winning streak is second only to the Yankees’ record of 39 consecutive winning seasons, which they set from 1926 to 1964.
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Former Yankee RHP Sonny Gray (7-4, 3.10) will start the final game of the series for Minnesota on Thursday. He was pushed back a day because of a sore hamstring. Nestor Cortes (9-4, 2.68 ERA), a left-handed pitcher for New York, could come back from a groin strain and start.
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