NEW YORK (AP) — Aaron Judge hit his 361st career home run Thursday night, tying Hall of Fame outfielder Joe DiMaggio for fourth place in New York Yankees history.
The two-time AL MVP went deep twice in the first three innings against the Detroit Tigers, with President Donald Trump in attendance at Yankee Stadium on the 24th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
Judge launched homer No. 360 in the first inning, a 413-foot drive to left-center field off Tyler Holton that put New York up 1-0.
With Trump sitting in a suite on the third base side, Judge matched DiMaggio in the third by driving a 1-0 fastball from Sawyer Gipson-Long to the back of the Tigers’ bullpen in left-center for his second homer of the game.
That solo shot gave New York a 4-1 lead. It had an exit velocity of 114.9 mph and traveled 434 feet.
Judge’s 46th homer of the season raised his major league-best batting average to .322, three points ahead of Athletics rookie shortstop Jacob Wilson.
Holton and Gipson-Long became the 272nd and 273rd pitchers to allow a homer to Judge, who has six multihomer games this season.
Judge, the Yankees’ captain, broke a tie with Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra for fifth on New York’s career list Tuesday night in a 12-2 loss when he hit a solo shot off Casey Mize in the first inning.
Hall of Fame sluggers Babe Ruth (659 homers), Mickey Mantle (536) and Lou Gehrig (493) are the only players ahead of Judge on the Yankees’ career home run chart.
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