Aaron Judge is known for his powerful bat. The New York Yankees slugger has led MLB in home runs in two of the past three seasons and has hit more 460-foot moonshots than any player since 2017.
On Tuesday night against the Texas Rangers, however, Judge homered in pretty much the exact opposite way as that. In the bottom of the eighth inning, he was just barely able to sneak a 326-foot fly inside the foul pole at Yankee Stadium. The two-run shallow drive ended up being the shortest home run of his career.
It was also the 16th home run this season for Judge, who began the night tied for the AL lead.
“We’ll take it,” Judge said while laughing after the game. “It counts the same as the longest one I’ve hit.”
In this case, his home run gave the Yanks insurance as they went on to win 5-2. New York (28-19) has won nine of 12 to move a season-best nine games over .500.
Rookie Will Warren struck out a career-high 10 for the home team, while Ben Rice also went deep in the opener of a three-game series between the past two American League champions. Anthony Volpe blooped an RBI double after Rice drove in the first two runs.
Texas manager Bruce Bochy was ejected by plate umpire Carlos Torres with Judge batting in the sixth inning, and the Rangers lost for the third time in four games following a six-game winning streak.
Rangers vs. Yankees Highlights | MLB on FOX
Jonah Heim’s two-run homer off Ian Hamilton with two outs in the ninth prevented a shutout. With a runner at third, Luke Weaver retired Josh Smith on a popup for his sixth save.
Rice sent a solo shot into the second deck in right off starter Patrick Corbin (3-3) in the second for his 10th home run.
Warren (3-2) allowed five hits and one walk over 5 2/3 innings to win his second consecutive decision.
Yankees outfielder Cody Bellinger extended his hitting streak to a career-best 14 games with a pop-fly single in the fourth that helped set up Rice’s sacrifice fly.
Judge made it 5-0 with the final two runs for the Yankees.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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