NEW YORK ¨C The crowd was already buzzing when Aaron Judge stepped in for his first at-bat Saturday afternoon, with Paul Goldschmidt and Cody Bellinger having swatted Nestor Cortes¡¯ first two pitches for home runs. The Yankees captain made history by following with a third consecutive homer, and there would be plenty more offense to come.
Judge enjoyed the third three-homer game of his career, also slugging a grand slam and a two-run shot among a franchise-record nine home runs in the Yankees¡¯ 20-9 rout of the Brewers at Yankee Stadium.
¡°Seeing the Bleacher Creatures jumping up and down, you have to step out and catch your breath there for a second before you step in the box,¡± said Judge, who collected a career-high eight RBIs. ¡°It gets your heart rate going a little bit. It was definitely fun.¡±
Judge¡¯s third homer of the day cleared the fences in the fourth inning, equaling a franchise mark of eight team homers achieved twice previously: on June 28, 1939 vs. the Athletics, and on July 31, 2007 vs. the White Sox.
Oswald Peraza slugged a two-run pinch-hit shot in the seventh inning for the Yanks¡¯ ninth homer of the day. Only two other Major League teams have hit at least nine homers in a game: the Blue Jays, who belted a Major League-record 10 homers against the Orioles on Sept. 14, 1987; and the Reds, who hit nine homers against the Phillies on Sept. 4, 1999.
¡°Wow, what a performance,¡± said Yanks manager Aaron Boone, who hit one of Cincinnati¡¯s homers in that 1999 contest. ¡°It was kind of a weird, crazy game. Obviously we¡¯ve got to catch the ball better, but there were a lot of really great at-bats. [It was] good to get a win.¡±
Yes, as Boone alluded, the Yanks were sloppy in committing five errors ¨C a large reason why left-hander Max Fried didn¡¯t qualify for the victory in his pinstriped debut, exiting after 4 2/3 innings despite 16 runs of support. The bats bailed them out.
Judge, who hit 58 home runs last year in claiming his second American League Most Valuable Player Award, followed Goldschmidt¡¯s leadoff blast and Bellinger¡¯s first Yankees homer with his first of the new campaign. It marked the first time in franchise history the Bombers have had back-to-back-to-back homers to begin a game.
¡°It was just like, ¡®Bang, bang, bang,¡¯ and we were up three,¡± Bellinger said. ¡°This was exciting. We love the lineup, we love the depth, we love the guys we¡¯ve got in this locker room.¡±
Austin Wells added a solo shot off Cortes, giving the Yanks a four-homer first inning, the franchise¡¯s first.
¡°You think you¡¯ve seen it all, and you haven¡¯t,¡± Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. ¡°Because we saw it today: Three pitches, three homers. It¡¯s like, really? Usually you wake up from that, you know what I mean? You go, ¡®Ah, that can¡¯t ever happen.¡¯¡±
Anthony Volpe hit a three-run shot in the second inning, and Judge launched his ninth career grand slam in the third off rookie left-hander Connor Thomas, who was making his Major League debut.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. also homered in the third inning. The Yankees¡¯ seven homers through three innings set a Major League record, per Sarah Langs.
¡°Once we got that lead, that was the talk in the dugout: just keep having those good at-bats,¡± Goldschmidt said. ¡°You never know what could happen.¡±
Judge¡¯s third homer came in the fourth, a two-run shot off Thomas. Only one Yankee has had a four-homer game: Lou Gehrig, on June 3, 1932 at Philadelphia. With two cracks at it late, Judge¡¯s teammates expected him to join the Iron Horse.
¡°You see the work [Judge] puts in every single day in Spring Training and in the season, the type of teammate he is,¡± Fried said. ¡°That¡¯s why he can go out there and have that type of performance. Every single time he steps in the box, he¡¯s a threat.¡±
Facing Elvis Peguero in the sixth, Judge ¡°settled¡± for a run-scoring double off the right-field wall. Judge¡¯s final chance came in the eighth against a position player, Jake Bauers, who got his former teammate to fly out to deep left on a slow curveball.
¡°I was joking with [Judge] when he was on deck, I gave him one of these,¡± Bauers said, pointing to his ribs. ¡°I gave him the best curveball I have. He still hit it pretty good, but I think he top-spun it, so I knew it was going to stay in.¡±
Judge is the fourth Yankee to have at least three games of three or more homers, joining Gehrig (four times), Joe DiMaggio and Alex Rodriguez.
¡°It¡¯s a special group,¡± Judge said. ¡°Any time you get mentioned with those guys, what they¡¯ve done in the game and the careers they¡¯ve had, it¡¯s pretty special. Our story is not done yet. I¡¯ll keep adding to those lists.¡±