NEW YORK (AP) — Aaron Judge homered for the fourth straight game, hitting No. 55 of the year in Wednesday’s doubleheader opener against Minnesota to set the New York Yankees’ season record for right-handed hitters.
Louie Varland, a 24-year-old right-hander making his big league debut, allowed just one hit before Judge lined a 2-1 changeup 374 feet into the left-field seats in the fourth inning.
Judge surpassed the 54 homers hit by Alex Rodriguez in 2007. The Yankees’ season record of 61 was set by Roger Maris in 1961, one more than Babe Ruth’s season high of 60 in 1927.
Judge is one short of his career best of five straight games with home runs, set from July 29 to Aug. 2. He leads the major leagues in home runs and with 118 RBIs.
He has six homers in his last eight games and seven in his last 11.
Judge’s home run was his 114th at new Yankee Stadium, one more than Mark Teixeira’s previous record for the ballpark, which opened in 2009.
Only two players have hit more homers through a team’s first 136 games: the Chicago Cubs’ Sammy Sosa had 58 in 1999 and San Francisco’s Barry Bonds hit 57 in 2001.
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