Aaron Judge meets young fan Derek Rodriguez after home run
Yankees’ slugger Aaron Judge meets 9-year-old Derek Rodriguez and Mike Lanzillotta, the fan who caught Judge’s home run ball and gave it to Derek.
Pete Caldera, NorthJersey.com
NEW YORK — Aaron Judge continues to find new and unique ways to make his 2022 season one to remember. One night after a walk-off homer accounted for the only run in a 1-0 win over the Royals, Judge garnered more chants of “MVP” from the Yankee Stadium crowd.
Judge’s third inning blast off Royals starter Kris Bubic scored both him and DJ LeMahieu, who walked before Judge’s at-bat. It gave Judge 40 home runs on the year before the month of August has even arrived. Then, during an eight-run eighth inning, Judge finished off the damage with a towering grand slam for number 41.
Judge is knocking down milestone after milestone and has done something that only three other American League hitters have ever accomplished. Babe Ruth struck 41 home runs by the end of July in 1928 with the New York Yankees to set an AL record, which the Philadelphia Athletics’ Jimmie Foxx later tied in 1932. That record stood until 1998 when Ken Griffey Jr. hit 41 homers before Aug. 1 during his second-to-last season with the Seattle Mariners.
Ruth would end his 1928 campaign with 54 home runs and 146 runs batted in. Fox ended the 1932 season connecting on 58 home runs and 169 RBI, while Griffey totaled 56 home runs and 146 RBI.
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Judge now has struck six home runs in five games and has set a new Major League record with his ninth multi-home run game through his team’s first 101 games.
No other hitter in Major League Baseball has more than 32 homers.
In addition to Judge’s home run to win Thursday’s game and the two on Friday, Judge also struck a homer against the Mets on Tuesday and hit one out on Sunday in the series finale against Baltimore.
Roger Maris, another Yankees legend holds the American League — though not the Major League one — for most homers in a season with 61. Barry Bonds (73 in 2001), Mark McGwire (70 in 1998, 65 in ‘99) and Sammy Sosa (66 in 1998, 63 in ’99, 64 in ‘01) eclipsed Maris in the National League.
Email: aitken@northjersey.com. Twitter: @robertaitkenjr
