NEW YORK ¨C There are still moments when Aaron Judge¡¯s teammates recognize they must pinch themselves after another one of the captain¡¯s remarkable performances, taking a beat to remember that what they are witnessing is both significant and historic.
Judge continues to keep select company in franchise lore, notching his 500th career extra-base hit with an early three-run homer in the Yankees¡¯ 9-7 victory over the D-backs on Thursday evening at Yankee Stadium.
Only Joe DiMaggio (853 games) and Lou Gehrig (874 games) reached that milestone in fewer games than Judge, who played in his 999th career game Thursday.
¡°He just keeps on performing, man, showing us why he¡¯s the MVP of this league and one of the best players to ever play this game,¡± said Jazz Chisholm Jr. ¡°We all just try to be like him. We all tell him every day, ¡®Hey, we want to be you when we grow up.¡¯¡±
Judge finished 3-for-5 with four RBIs and a stolen base. He is the first player in Major League history to slug at least five homers with at least 15 RBIs in his team¡¯s first six games of a season -- not that he seems to be taking much time to appreciate it.
¡°You¡¯ve got to keep moving forward,¡± Judge said. ¡°I¡¯ll look at it when I¡¯m an old man coming to Old-Timers¡¯ Day. I can look back and we can joke about it and laugh about it, but there¡¯s a lot of work to be done.¡±
Judge has had plenty of company in the power department. Trent Grisham and Chisholm added homers to the Yankees¡¯ tally of 22 thus far, a Major League record through six games. The previous mark was shared by the 2006 Tigers, 2016 Rockies and 2019 Dodgers, each of whom hit 17.
With Judge (five homers), Anthony Volpe (four) and Chisholm (four), the Yanks are also the first team in Major League history to have three players hit at least four homers through a season¡¯s first six games, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
¡°We never exhale,¡± Judge said. ¡°We¡¯ve seen that too many times in this game, where you score early and a team answers right back. That¡¯s been our thing at the beginning of this year: Don¡¯t let off the gas. Keep scoring until you get that final out.¡±
Having watched Judge claim two of the American League¡¯s past three Most Valuable Player Awards, Yankees manager Aaron Boone acknowledges that ¡°there¡¯s a part of me that takes it for granted a little bit.¡±
When Judge ripped a sixth-inning double, for example, Boone half-jokingly wondered if Judge could¡¯ve done more with that swing.
¡°I catch myself having these ridiculous conversations with him, just because he keeps setting the bar so darned high,¡± Boone said.
Grisham cracked a two-run homer in the third inning, part of a three-RBI performance. Chisholm added a two-run shot in the fourth, helping the Bombers pound Kelly for nine runs in 3 2/3 innings. Ten different Yankees have homered this season, most in the Majors.
¡°I felt for the most part, guys were leaving spring in a really good place, and it¡¯s carried over here in the first week of the season from a run-production standpoint,¡± Boone said. ¡°We have a lot of really capable hitters, and it¡¯s good to see most of them off on a really good note.¡±
That production supported right-hander Carlos Carrasco, who notched a victory in his first start (second appearance) for the Yankees. The 38-year-old limited Arizona to three runs and five hits over 5 1/3 innings, walking two and striking out five.
¡°I just went out there to get outs and made my pitches,¡± Carrasco said.
Arizona closed its deficit in the seventh, with Geraldo Perdomo slugging a grand slam off Ryan Yarbrough. Mark Leiter Jr. and Luke Weaver notched the final seven outs, and Boone gushed that Weaver looked ¡°probably the best he¡¯s thrown the ball since the World Series.¡±
Grisham called the victory ¡°a character game for us¡± after the Yanks dropped the series¡¯ first two games. Judge agreed, revealing that Giancarlo Stanton offered a few impactful words early in the evening, in which he stressed the importance of protecting their home turf.
¡°People are talking about [Torpedo] bats, people are talking about this and that,¡± Judge said. ¡°You can¡¯t get caught up in the distractions or what the media is saying. You¡¯ve got to go out there and keep playing, so I think we all kind of locked it in.¡±