Aaron Judge hits home run number 61. How historic is his season?
Aaron Judge has equaled Roger Maris’ record for the Yankees and the American League with 61 home runs. How historic is his season?
Chris Pedota and Pete Caldera, NorthJersey.com
CHICAGO – In the city where Babe Ruth supposedly pursued his dream of success, Aaron Judge made home run history on Wednesday night, as expected.
Didn’t you have a feeling the White Sox would regret their strange strategy in the eighth inning?
“Yeah, that was crazy,” Austin Wells said of interim manager Grady Sizemore’s decision to intentionally walk Juan Soto with first base open to face the Yankees captain.
“Oh, here it is,” rookie starter Will Warren blurted out in the visitors’ dugout.
With a 3-0 pitch, Judge hit his 300th home run, becoming the fastest player to reach that milestone in the Yankees’ 10-2 victory at Guaranteed Rate Field.
“It definitely surprised us,” manager Aaron Boone said of Soto’s first targeted pass of 2024, which made him the MLB’s home run leader. “But Aaron was ready.”
Judge 300th According to Elias, his career home run in Game No. 955 surpassed the previous record of 300 games held by Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner, who had beaten the mark for 1,087 games.
In terms of at-bats, Judge hit 300 home runs in 3,431 at-bats, surpassing Babe Ruth’s previous record of 3,831.
“I hope he breaks the (all-time) home run record,” Soto said. “Why not?”
Aaron Judge’s opinion on intentional walking
“Why not?” was Judge’s postgame response to Soto’s intentional pass.
Finally, Soto followed up his three-home run game on Tuesday night with a first-inning home run on Wednesday, giving him six home runs in his last 11 at-bats since Sunday.
“They make a mistake and he hits the ball out of the park,” said Judge, who had a strikeout in his first two attempts but later hit a key double.
But… really?
Judge told Meredith Marakovits of the YES Network immediately after the game: “I was mad about the intentional walk, so that kind of spurred me on.”
“Normally when the score is 3-0, I take a pitch, look at the pitch and pass it to the next guy. But in this situation, you have to hold on if they don’t want to pitch to you.”
As the batter behind an opponent seeking the Triple Crown, Soto was not expected to be sent to first base after Alex Verdugo’s RBI double gave the Yanks a 6-2 lead.
“At that point, I really thought they were going to get two intentional walks in a row,” said Soto, who then watched right-hander Chad Kuhl fall behind 3-0 against Judge.
“I think he’s going to sink a ball on the ground and then let it walk,” Soto said. “I was really shocked” to see a pitch near the plate.
It wasn’t exactly in the middle, but Judge pulled his hands in and drilled No. 300 – also his 43rd Home run of the year – in the White Sox bullpen.
Judge later referred to his own free pass from last weekend to get to Giancarlo Stanton, who responded with a home run.
“Yeah, you know, I saw Big G do that the other day at home against the Rangers. So that was kind of my inspiration,” Judge said.
“Hey, if they’re going to do that, you’ve got to come out and score the runs.”
A close game and a celebration
What is particularly pleasing is that Judge’s milestone throw “was a big win for us” considering that “we were a little down for a while and didn’t really get much done on Wednesday night.”
After six innings, the historically weak White Sox (29-93) led 2-1 and had a chance to win a series against the AL East-leading Yanks (72-50).
But Oswaldo Cabrera’s attentive baserunning, in which he scored after Verdugo’s flyout from second base to the warning track in right center – after a sensational catch by Dominic Fletcher – equalized in the seventh inning.
Three batters later, Wells delivered a two-run single that took the lead (Soto and Judge scored), and Judge’s 300th Homer with his ninth of the year.
“This couldn’t happen to a better guy,” Wells said of Judge’s milestone. “He’s great for us and for him to accomplish this so young in his career … we’re excited to see what’s next.”
“That’s the coolest thing,” Judge said of his teammates’ reaction. After a home run, “I always kind of point to the bullpen, I saw the guys jumping around” before a hero’s welcome in the dugout.
“It means a lot to me. These guys work with me every day… they do hard work, they see what I do, so this was really special.”
“He’s just so popular there,” Boone said. “Everyone looks up to him,” and they’re “so excited to share it with him, probably even more excited than he is.”
For some reason, Soto hadn’t realized that Judge had just reached 300 until Verdugo told him after crossing home base.
“You don’t see that very often,” Soto said. “And the way he just keeps it casual and normal – he’s just incredible.”
