Aaron Judge Hits Tape-Measure Shot vs Guardians
The Yankee captain hit his 260th career homer with authority.
Entering Sunday's series finale against the Cleveland Guardians, Aaron Judge had 259 career home runs, all in a New York Yankees uniform.
In the third inning, he would hit number 260 - in Judgian fashion.
The Yankees set up their captain nicely against left-hander Logan Allen, as Anthony Volpe drew a one-out walk and Juan Soto singled to put runners on the corners. With Judge striding to the plate, he got a first-pitch sweeper over the middle - and predictably hit it to the sun.
The titanic shot left the bat at 114 mph, and traveled 450 feet; the initially projected distance was 469 feet. Regardless of what the distance was, the ball made Progressive Field's bleacher section look tiny as it landed near the top of the bleachers; this was territory reached by only a few players, such as Mark McGwire and Manny Ramirez.
Judge additionally moved up the leaderboard for the Yankee franchise record for homers. The Yankee captain tied The Captain, Derek Jeter, for ninth on the team home run list. 15 more homers would allow Judge to match the total of Jorge Posada, another component of the Core Four, for eighth place. Babe Ruth is the franchise leader in home runs, with 659.
The home run also raised Judge's batting average to .214. In fact, Judge has accrued four hits in the series against Cleveland so far, improving his slash line to .214/.375/.464; despite the low average, fearful pitchers have walked the Yankee captain 15 times, trailing only Mookie Betts for the most in the majors.
Most importantly, it gave the Bronx Bombers a 3-0 lead over the Guardians, as they look to complete a three-game sweep.
