NEW YORK (AP) — Aaron Judge launched his 41st home run, adding to his major league-leading total, and the New York Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays 8-3 on Saturday.
“We're watching greatness. So you try not to take that for granted,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Try to appreciate every now and then what we have.”
Anthony Volpe and No. 9 batter Trent Grisham also hit two-run shots off José Berríos to help Carlos Rodón (12-7) win his third consecutive start after going 0-5 in his previous six.
Volpe and Austin Wells each had an RBI single for the Yankees, who began the day tied with Baltimore atop the AL East after their five-game winning streak was snapped Friday night in the series opener.
New York entered having lost 16 of 22 home games for the first time since 1917.
Benched for not running hard out of the batter's box Friday on a single off the wall, Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres was back in the lineup as Boone promised. Torres went 1 for 4 with a single and a walk. He hustled into second base to beat a tag with a headfirst slide, and scored on Volpe's home run that made it 6-1 in the fifth inning.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a solo homer in the first for last-place Toronto and finished a triple shy of the cycle. He is batting .525 with nine home runs during a season-best 16-game hitting streak and has five homers in 12 games against the Yankees this season.
Juan Soto singled on a 3-0 pitch in the first and Judge sent a 426-foot drive into the Blue Jays' bullpen in left-center, giving him a major league-high 103 RBIs.
“He's the best hitter in the game,” Rodón said. “It's a must-watch every at-bat.”
Judge also hit a two-run shot in the first inning Friday and has six home runs in his last eight games. He's hit 16 longballs in the first inning, matching Babe Ruth (1927) for most by a Yankees player in one season — two behind the big league record set by Alex Rodríguez with Texas in 2001.
“It's surreal. Anytime you hear any of those greats that are all around this building, all around this stadium, it's almost kind of make believe some of the stuff they did,” Judge said. “So to be mentioned in any type of category, sentence, anything with those guys, it's quite an honor."
Before the game, Toronto manager John Schneider called Judge's astounding numbers “comical” and said it was “tempting” to simply walk him every time up. So with two outs and nobody aboard in the second, and his team down 4-1, Schneider did walk the big slugger intentionally — drawing boos from the crowd of 40,218.
According to Major League Baseball, it was the first time a hitter had been walked intentionally in that situation in the first two innings of a game since 1972.
“I honestly didn’t feel like seeing him swing. That was kind of it," Schneider said. “He’s in a different category I think than anyone else in the league, where he can just flip the script of a game with one swing.”
Faced with the same situation in the fourth, Toronto pitched to Judge and he struck out against Berríos (9-9).
After second baseman Spencer Horwitz flubbed a leadoff grounder in the second for an error, Grisham homered to make it 4-1.
Rodón struck out eight in 5 1/3 innings of three-hit ball, throwing 106 pitches on a 90-degree afternoon.
“Just a steady mix,” he said. “Just trying to attack the zone.”
Alejandro Kirk looped the first pitch from Jake Cousins for a two-run single, but the Yankees' bullpen held from there. Clay Holmes struck out George Springer with the bases loaded for his 23rd save in 31 chances.
New York has scored at least five runs in eight straight games, its longest streak since September 2021.
“I feel good about really every spot right now,” Boone said of his lineup. “The guys are contributing.”
Blue Jays pitcher Kevin Gausman, who started Friday, was ejected by plate umpire Laz Diaz in the middle of the seventh for arguing balls and strikes from the bench.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Blue Jays: Springer was back in the lineup as the DH batting leadoff and went 0 for 4 with a walk. He exited Friday after fouling a pitch off his left shin. ... Kirk started behind the plate and batted cleanup after missing the previous two games. He was hit on the left elbow by a 98 mph pitch Tuesday from Baltimore ace Corbin Burnes. Springer wore a shin guard and Kirk an elbow pad.
Yankees: 1B Anthony Rizzo (broken right forearm) has started swinging a bat. INF Jon Berti (left calf strain) is running at over 80%. There's still no timetable for either player to return, Boone said, but Berti is closer than Rizzo. ... RHP Ian Hamilton (right lat strain) is scheduled to throw a high-intensity bullpen Tuesday. ... Judge was the DH as Giancarlo Stanton was rested.
UP NEXT
Yankees ace Gerrit Cole (3-2, 5.40 ERA) returns to the rotation in the series finale Sunday after missing a turn in Philadelphia because of body fatigue. Rookie RHP Yariel Rodríguez (1-4, 4.31) makes his 11th major league start for Toronto.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Mike Fitzpatrick, The Associated Press