Aaron Judge ties Yankees legend Jorge Posada with 275th career home run, moves to 8th spot in franchise history
New York Yankees captain Aaron Judge continues to put his hot barrel on full display to crush baseballs. The slugger put everyone on notice with his 275th home run of his career on Thursday night against the Los Angeles Angels.
Aaron Judge's home run against the Angels tied him with Jorge Posada in the eighth spot for most home runs for the franchise in MLB history.
The two-run home run came in the top of the fourth against the Angels' southpaw Patrick Sandoval. Judge's 18th homer of the season sailed deep into left field (433 ft.), coming off the bat at 110.0 mph. He drove in Juan Soto and put the Yankees up 2-1 in the game.
With his 18th home run, Judge joins the Baltimore Orioles’ Gunnar Henderson and Houston Astros' Kyle Tucker as the joint home run leader in the MLB this season.
Despite a relatively slow start to the season, Judge has turned up a notch in the last month. His numbers in the last 10 games have been phenomenal, with him averaging .273 entering Thursday's game.
Aaron Judge and Juan Soto too much for the Angels
Apart from Aaron Judge, Juan Soto also broke the shackles, registering three RBIs, two walks and one hit. His bases-clearing triple in the seventh turned out to be the difference with the Yankees cruising past the Angels with an 8-3 win.
Props to starter Carlos Rodon as well, who held up the fort from the other hand. Despite giving up a homer to Logan O’Hoppe in the second, he shut down the hitters until the sixth. However, he gave up two more runs in the seventh with no one out, prompting manager Aaron Boone to pull him out of the game.
In six-plus innings thrown, he gave up three earned runs, one walk with five strikeouts. There was no further resistance put up by the Angels against the Yankees relievers. In the other half, the Yankees hitters continued to pile up runs.
The Yankees improved to 39-19 following Thursday night's win. They solidify their position at the top of AL East, now leading by two games over the second-placed Orioles.