Aaron Judge hits 41st homer, Trent Grisham and Anthony Volpe also go deep to back Carlos Rodon in win over Blue Jays
Aaron Judge of the Yankees celebrates his first-inning two-run home run against the Blue Jays with teammate Juan Soto at Yankee Stadium on Saturday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The list of superlatives does not seem to end. Recently, however, it can be shortened to mention the company Aaron Judge keeps: Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle.
On Friday, he joined those three as one of only four players to have at least three seasons with at least 40 homers with the Yankees, and on Saturday, in the Yankees’ 8-3 win over the Blue Jays in the Bronx, he added another milestone. His two-run shot was the 16th homer he’s hit in the first inning this year, tying Ruth’s record set in 1927. Judge has played in 110 games; Ruth played in 151.
“It’s surreal any time you hear any of those greats that are all around this building, all around this stadium,” said Judge, who has 29 RBIs in the first inning this season. “It’s almost kind of make believe.”
The statsheet — and the standings — say it’s very much not. Judge went 2-for-3 with two walks, and the Yankees’ lineup is coming alive around him. Anthony Volpe and Trent Grisham also hit two-run homers on Saturday as the Yankees won for the sixth time in the last seven games, averaging 8.4 runs in that span.
Judge has 41 homers and 103 RBIs with 50 games remaining, and that’s “a pretty good season for a lot of people,” Carlos Rodon said. “But for him, we’re only halfway through.”
Judge has six homers and 14 RBIs in his last eight games (15-for-31, .484) and has 35 homers and 84 RBIs in his last 75 games (99-for-264, .375).
The Blue Jays struck first when, with two outs in the first, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. teed off on Rodon’s low curveball, slamming it 417 feet to center to give them a 1-0 lead. That, however, was no match for the torrid streak Judge has been on.
Juan Soto singled off Jose Berrios with one out in the bottom of the inning and Judge muscled a no-doubt 426-footer to center. That scared the Blue Jays enough that they intentionally walked him with two outs and nobody on in the second.
“We’re watching greatness,” Aaron Boone said. “You try not to take that for granted. What we’re seeing 99 do — I feel now, for a few years, you hear a lot of the Babe, Mantle, Gehrig, DiMaggio, those kind of names intertwined with a lot of the things he’s doing.”
The Yankees got two more in the second, partially courtesy of the Blue Jays’ defense. Ben Rice hit a grounder to second that was dropped by Spencer Horwitz and Grisham hit his seventh home run.
Volpe gave the Yankees a 6-1 lead in the fifth, hitting a two-run home run off Berrios for his fifth in 11 games and 11th overall.
“The guy just has the ability to make adjustments, aptitude,” Boone said of Volpe, who is 18-for-49 (.367) in those 11 games. He had a “great start, went through his share of struggles there for several weeks, and I feel like the last two weeks really [is] just getting better, in better position to put a really good swing on pitches in the strike zone.”
Rodon, meanwhile, cruised until the sixth, when he walked George Springer, struck out Joey Loperfido and then, when Boone made a mound visit, petitioned the manager to let him stay in the game despite being at the 100-pitch mark. That move didn’t quite work out, as Rodon allowed a double by Guerrero. Jake Cousins then allowed a two-run single by Alejandro Kirk to cut the Yankees’ lead to 6-3.
Rodon (12-7) was charged with three runs, allowed three hits and two walks, and struck out eight in 5 ⅓ innings. He has won three straight starts, giving up six runs in 18 2/3 innings and striking out 25.
Volpe tacked on a run-scoring single in the seventh and Austin Wells added an RBI single in the eighth to make it 8-3. The Blue Jays loaded the bases with one out against trade deadline acquisition Mark Leiter Jr. in the ninth, but Leiter got Addison Barger to pop out to third and Clay Holmes struck out Springer to earn his 23rd save.
Blue Jays manager John Schneider was asked about Judge, about that intentional walk, and — in a way — what it’s like to go up against history in the making.
“I honestly didn’t feel like seeing him swing,” Schneider said. “That was kind of it. We talked about being really careful with him and I think like I said, that’s what can lead to mistakes when you’re really trying to be very fine. And at that point, it’s 4-1.
“He’s in a different category I think than anyone else in the league where he can just flip the script of a game with one swing.”
A different category in the league, and in a very rare category all time.
Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.
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