WATCH: Aaron Judge's 54th homer in 10-0 win against Oakland A's sends Yankees closer to AL East crown
Aaron Judge smashed his 54th home run of the season as the New York Yankees defeated the Oakland Athletics 10-0 at the Coliseum on Saturday night to move closer towards securing the American League East title. Meanwhile, Judge's home run means his bid to post another 60-homer campaign is on track after setting the AL single-season record in 2022.
MLB posted a short video clip of the shot from Aaron Judge on their official profile on X, formerly Twitter.
On Saturday, the Yankees faced the A's for the second meeting of their three-game series in Oakland. The Yankees currently lead the AL East and secured a postseason berth earlier this week. On the other hand, the A's have long been eliminated from playoff contention and sit in fourth place in the AL West.
The Yankees were already up 7-0 in the game when Aaron Judge stepped up to the plate to lead off the seventh inning to face the A's right-handed reliever Brandon Bielak on the mound.
On the very first pitch of the at-bat, Bielak threw a high slider on the inside corner of the strike zone to jam the batter, but Judge seemed to have anticipated the pitch coming. The Yankees slugger rocked back and smacked the ball 425 feet over the centerfield with an exit velocity of 107.2 mph for his 54th home run of the season.
Anthony Volpe, Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge homer in 600th career win for Aaron Boone
Anthony Volpe, Giancarlo Stanton, and Aaron Judge all hit home runs for the New York Yankees in their 10-0 victory over the Oakland A's on Saturday evening. Carlos Rodon started on the mound for the Bronx Bombers and pitched six shutout innings, allowing just five hits with a walk while notching four strikeouts to pick up his 16th win of the season.
“It’s fun to watch. You’re kind of a fan in the moment, even though I’m still pitching,” Rodón said. “Just a little fanboy watching those guys hit homers.”
“Offensively, we showed up again. That seems like it’s pretty common for when I’m pitching,” Rodón said. “It’s nice to have a good lead and just go out there to attack hitters and try to get some quick outs.”
Meanwhile, Yankees manager Aaron Boone also picked up the 600th win of his career on Saturday.
“It’s the result of a lot of good teams, a lot of really good players, and the opportunity to do it for an extended period of time,” Boone said after the game.
The Yankees need just three more wins from their remaining seven games of the regular season to clinch the AL East title.