Stanton crushes mammoth HR -- just watch where it lands!
NEW YORK -- Seeing Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton homer in the same game has been a reliable recipe for success for the Yankees, who own a 29-2 record (including postseason) in such contests.
And, boy, did they hit a couple in Sunday's 6-0 win over the Giants.
One batter after Judge launched his second home run of the season, Stanton outdid his teammate with a jaw-dropping two-run drive that cleared both Monument Park and the center-field restaurant, reaching the batter¡¯s eye deck a Statcast-projected 485 feet from home plate.
¡°We¡¯re always messing around, like, ¡®Anyone can hit one,¡¯ stuff like that,¡± Stanton said. ¡°It¡¯s not a competition; we¡¯re both here to help us win and be the best we can. ¡ I don¡¯t worry about [the distance] too much. It just put us in a good spot to win the game. Everything synced up, timing, and the striking was on point. And I just let it go.¡±
The blast, which helped to power Jhony Brito¡¯s winning effort in his Major League debut, was Stanton's second-longest homer tracked by Statcast. He hit a 504-foot shot on Aug. 6, 2016, against the Rockies at Coors Field.
Sunday¡¯s no-doubter was also the third-longest homer tracked at Yankee Stadium, behind a pair of Judge drives: a 496-foot shot vs. Toronto on Sept. 30, 2017, and a 495-foot blast against Baltimore on June 11, 2017.
¡°G is weird,¡± Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. ¡°Every time he comes in after one of those, I just tell him, ¡®You¡¯re weird. You¡¯re different.¡¯ I mean, he hits it, and you know it¡¯s going over the batter¡¯s eye. It¡¯s like, ¡®Where is this thing going to go?¡¯¡±
Stanton¡¯s drive, which gave New York a 3-0 lead, was hit on an 87.1 mph Ross Stripling slider and came off the bat at 117.8 mph. Stripling said that it was probably the longest homer he has surrendered.
¡°I saw that it was like one of the longest ones in Yankee Stadium history; I thought the wind was blowing out a little bit, so maybe [it would be] 460 on a normal day,¡± Stripling said with a smirk. ¡°I¡¯m just kidding. Probably not. That one was pretty large."
Stanton is believed to be just the second player to clear the batter¡¯s eye since Yankee Stadium opened in 2009, joining Manny Machado, who did it for the Orioles in 2017.
¡°It¡¯s unbelievable, the things that he and Judgie are able to do,¡± Isiah Kiner-Falefa said. ¡°We see it every day and almost get spoiled, but not everyone can do it. It¡¯s incredible. It just tells you the kind of players those guys are. It¡¯s cool to be their teammate.¡±?
Said catcher Kyle Higashioka, who also homered in Sunday¡¯s win: ¡°He¡¯s definitely 1-of-1 in terms of putting the hurt on a baseball. It¡¯s just so much fun to watch him every day.¡±?
Judge¡¯s homer was his 222nd, tying former captain Don Mattingly for 11th on the club¡¯s all-time list. Only Jorge Posada (275) and Derek Jeter (260) hit more homers among players who were drafted and signed by the Yankees.
It was also Stanton¡¯s second homer in as many games, and his 113rd as a Yankee, tying Thurman Munson on the franchise list.?
¡°Like I said, as long as it goes over the fence, that¡¯s cool with me,¡± Stanton said.