Aaron Judge hits his 48th home run as Yankees take the series from the Guardians

There he goes again.

Aaron Judge, just two seasons removed from hitting an American League record 62 homers, is on pace to hit 61, homering a third straight game Thursday afternoon in a 6-0 victory over the Guardians in front of 38,105 at the Stadium.

“It seems like another level,” said Giancarlo Stanton, whose three-run homer in the fifth inning highlighted a four-run inning that gave the Yankees a 5-0 lead. “This last bit here has been unreal, and so will this next five weeks.”

Judge launched his MLB-leading 48th homer in the fourth inning, a solo shot off Cleveland righthander Gavin Williams, to give Gerrit Cole, who threw six scoreless innings in notching his 150th career victory, a 1-0 lead.

“Just historic,” said Cole who, like Stanton was on the 2022 club and had a front-row seat for Judge’s exploits. “I mean, it’s so impressive because when you look around the league and you see guys with high batting averages – .330, .340, .350 – the guys in the past, there’s a fair amount of bunt hits and infield hits. This guy’s sitting at .330 and I’m not quite sure he has an infield hit all year. They’re all doubles and homers. So it’s like, there’s no one that can compare to him, certainly not walking around right now. Outside of (Barry) Bonds. What a wonderful experience to have him on my team and to be around him.”

Judge, who went 1-for-3 with a walk Thursday, is hitting .334 with a .465 on-base percentage, .726 slugging percentage and a 1.191 OPS. He leads the majors in homers, RBIs (118), on-base percentage, slugging, OPS, times on base (262), total bases (326), extra-base hits (79) and intentional walks (16).

Judge, who has four homers in his last three games, six homers in his last seven games and seven homers in his last 10 games, is slashing .379/.507/.833 with 44 homers, 105 RBIs, 24 doubles, 84 walks and 92 runs in his last 99 games.

Just two players – Sammy Sosa three times and Mark McGwire twice – have reached the 60-homer plateau more than once.

“I guess we’re (at) the on-pace portion of the season,” Aaron Boone said with a smile of his centerfielder, the AL MVP winner in 2022 who is the front-runner for this year’s award. “Look, anything’s possible with him. I think he just wants to be great every day and help us win. Nothing would surprise me.”

For his part, Judge, as he’s done since his breakout Rookie of the Year season in 2017 when he hit a then-rookie record 52 homers, downplayed his monstrous numbers.

Including hitting 60 – or more – homers twice in three seasons.

“If it comes with a ring and a lot of fun in the playoffs, then definitely that would be cool,” Judge said. “But like I said the other day, I’m just trying to do whatever I can each day to put ourselves in a position to win a ballgame. Especially these games against Cleveland, who we’ll definitely see down the road, and we’re fighting for the best record in the AL. I’m just trying to do my part, that’s it.”

As Judge alluded, it was a good series victory for the Yankees, who own an AL-best 75-53 record and increased their lead in the East to 1 1⁄2 games over the Orioles, who lost to the Astros.

The Guardians (73-54) did not have a hit after Steven Kwan led off the game with a single.

Cole, meanwhile, continued the roll he’s been on since being a last-minute scratch from his July 30 start in Philadelphia with what the Yankees characterized as “general body fatigue,” throwing six scoreless innings. Cole, 2-0 with a 1.17 ERA in his last four starts, allowed the one hit to Kwan in a 95-pitch outing in which he struggled with his command, walking five and striking out just two.

Cole, now 5-2 with a 3.72 ERA in a season that saw him miss the first 2½ months with right elbow inflammation, said hitting the 150-win mark in his career is significant.

“I grew up when they (wins) were important and widely viewed as important by everybody I would say,” said the 33-year-old Cole, last year’s AL Cy Young Award winner. “To me, it’s one of the stats that everybody has a hand in. So it’s really about your teammates and how often you take the field and play well together.”