NEW YORK (AP) — Aaron Judge hit his major league-record 48th home run and Gerrit Cole allowed just one hit in six innings to become the fourth active pitcher to reach 150 career wins as the New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Guardians 6-0 on Thursday.

Judge hit a home run for the third consecutive season and is on pace to finish with 61, two years after breaking Roger Maris’ AL single-season record with 62. Judge hit a home run for the sixth time in seven games, the seventh time in 10 games and the 13th time in 23 games.

“I think we’re at the stage of the season where things are really taking off,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Look, with him, anything is possible. I think he just wants to be great every day and help us win. So nothing would surprise me.”

Judge had 49 home runs in his first 128 games in 2022 and is the only Yankee with at least 48 home runs in multiple seasons to that point. He joins Sammy Sosa (1998, 1999, 2001) and Mark McGwire (1998, 1999) as the third player in baseball history with at least 48 home runs in 128 games in multiple seasons.

He has also hit 44 home runs in his last 90 games since April 27, when he hit a .197 batting average in his first month. Two years ago, Judge hit one home run in his first 13 games.

“If there’s a ring and a lot of fun in the playoffs, that would definitely be cool,” Judge said of the possibility of hitting 60 home runs for the second time.

Judge hit his final home run when he hit a 2-1 changeup from Cleveland starter Gavin Williams (2-6), sending him into the right-field seats. The 360-footer was Judge’s fourth home run of the season in a third straight game and his 14th of his career.

“What a wonderful experience to have him on my team and to be around him,” Cole said.

Cole (5-2) allowed a single by Steven Kwan on his second pitch and struggled at times to keep the game under control. He matched his personal record by allowing five walks, recording two strikeouts and getting eight outs on the ground, including a double play by rookie Jhonkensy Noel to bottom the sixth inning.

Cole joined Justin Verlander (260), Max Scherzer (216) and Clayton Kershaw (212) in reaching the 150-win milestone in his 311th start.

“I grew up in a time where they were important and everyone saw them as important, I would say,” Cole said. “For me, it’s one of those stats that everyone is involved in. So it’s really about your teammates and how often you go on the field and play well together.”

The Yankees had a four-run fifth after Judge drew his 16th intentional walk of the season. After seeing two sliders from Nick Sandlin well outside the strike zone, Judge drew his ninth intentional walk in 18 games this month to load the bases.

Austin Wells followed with a sacrifice fly and Giancarlo Stanton hit a three-run homer that flew just over the center field fence. It was the 10th time this season that Judge and Stanton hit a home run in the same game and the 41st time in the regular season.

Tim Hill, Luke Weaver and Michael Tonkin combined to not allow a single hit for three innings, earning New York’s tenth shutout.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the first time in team history that the Yankees allowed the first batter a hit and then none for the rest of the game.

Williams allowed three runs and four hits in 4 1/3 innings and was the 231st different pitcher to allow a home run to Judge.

“You can’t make bad shots against them,” Williams said. “They’ll make your mistakes.”

Cleveland lost for the fifth time in six games. The Guardians scored once and had five hits in the final two games of the series after scoring six times in Game 12, winning 9-5 on Tuesday.

“It was just a tough week,” said Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt. “Offensively, we had a tough road trip.”

The Guardians had a hit for the second time this season and were hitless for the 13th time.

José Ramírez made two of his three walks against Cole and stole his 30th base, becoming the first Guardian with multiple 30-30 seasons.

TRAINING ROOM

Guardians: LHP Alex Cobb (broken right fingernail) will throw a bullpen session in the next few days.

Yankees: 3B Jazz Chisholm Jr. (sprained left elbow), who took batting practice for the first time on the field on Wednesday, is close to returning, according to manager Aaron Boone.

Next

Guardians: RHP Tanner Bibee (10-5, 3.33 ERA) faces Texas RHP Nathan Eovaldi (8-7, 3.76) in the opener of a three-game series on Friday in Cleveland.

Yankees: LHP Carlos Rodón (13-8, 4.34) will face Colorado LHP Kyle Freeland (3-5, 5.97) in the opener of a three-game series on Friday.

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This story has been corrected to show that Judge hit four home runs for the third straight game this season, not three.

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