Aaron

Judge

Judge’s home run was his 17th of the season. He hit a two-run walk-off home run off Kevin Kelly in the bottom of the ninth inning. Judge had gone 11 games without hitting a home run prior to Sunday. Only Kyle Schwarber has more home runs than Judge so far this year.

He also drew a walk. The three-reach game now sees Judge hitting .273/.406/.612 on the year. For many hitters, you’d wonder when regression is coming. Aaron Judge is not many hitters.

He kept pace with Kyle Schwarber for the major league lead. Judge’s homer was hit 373 feet to right-center in the first. He also walked and struck out twice on a three true outcomes-only day. The homer today was Judge’s 384th of his career, moving him past Larry Walker and into a tie with Harold Baines for 69th place all-time. Judge, for what it’s worth, has taken 5,183 plate appearances, compared to 11,092 for Baines.

It was a rare quiet night for the Yankees’ offense as Nathan Eovaldi completely shut them down. Well, almost completely. He couldn’t stop Judge from launching a homer beyond the center field wall that would account for their only run on the night. That long ball was Judge’s 15th of the season, which pushed him ahead of Munetaka Murakami for most in the league. Those 15 home runs go along with a 1.066 OPS, yet it still feels like business as usual for Judge.

Judge’s home run was his 14th of the season. He hit a two-run shot off Shane Baz in the first inning. The 34-year-old outfielder didn’t miss an opportunity to cash in late with a two-run single in the eighth inning that put the Yankees up 9-1. Judge is hitting .272 with a 1.057 OPS and 27 RBI on the season.

Judge did his damage off of Orioles’ rookie right-hander Trey Gibson in the third inning, with his 413-foot (107.7 mph EV) two-run blast giving the Yankees a 3-1 advantage. That would be his only hit in three at-bats on the day, though he also drew a walk to finish the day 1-for-3. On the season, the 34-year-old superstar is hitting .264/.403/.628 with the aforementioned 13 long balls and 23 RBI.

Judge knocked a base hit in the first inning and scored the first run of the game on a double by Cody Bellinger. He later extended the Yankees’ lead in the ninth with a solo blast off Cole Winn, a 424-foot shot. The home run ties him for the MLB lead at 12. The 34-year-old star is hitting .262/.392/.645 with 25 runs scored, 20 RBI, and five steals to go with the dozen homers across 131 plate appearances.

Judge has 47 career two-homer games, but this is just his 11th two-double game. It’s the 12th time he’s had three extra-base hits. His 11th homer of this season put him at 379 for his career. He overtook Matt Williams tonight and moved into a tie with Orlando Cepeda and Tony Perez for 75th place on the all-time list. As far as doubles, with Nos. 207 and 208 tonight, he’s now just nine away from cracking the top 1000 of all-time, at least according to Baseball Reference.

Old man Judge’s bat speed is down a bit and his strikeout rate is up some in the early going, and there’s good reason to think he won’t wind up hitting .320-.330 like he did last two years. That said, we’d still take him first overall in a rest-of-season draft. He’s at .230/.369/.560 right now, and he’s also collected five steals. Today’s homer was the 378th of his career, moving him past Norm Cash and Jeff Kent and into a tie with Matt Williams for 77th on the all-time list.

Judge had a two-run homer in the first and a solo shot in the sixth for his 47th career two-homer game. He seemed especially proud of the second one tonight, as reliever Shaun Anderson had gone up and in on him in consecutive at-bats. The homers were his 373rd and 374th, moving him ahead of teammate Paul Goldschmidt and into third place on the active list behind Giancarlo Stanton (454) and Mike Trout (408).