Aaron Judge matches Babe Ruth with sixth multi-homer game of year; Yankees use long ball in comeback vs. Rays

New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge recorded his sixth multi-player game of the season on Wednesday night, defeating the Tampa Bay Rays 5-4 (box score), making him the only player in franchise history. such games within the first 70 team competitions, according to ESPN statistics and information.

Judge started the game with a Major-leading 25 home runs, putting him four ahead of second-place Mike Trout and five ahead of National League top slugger Pete Alonso. Obviously he wasn’t happy with that lead, as he ran the 26th in the fourth inning against Rays starter Shane Baz:

And then he put on the board number 27 in a match against Rays pitcher Colin Poche:

Your eyes don’t deceive you, the judge cleared the podium at Tropicana Field:

According to Statcast, Judge’s first home run hit 99.9 mph and traveled 396 feet. Meanwhile, his second car was hitting 109 mph and covering 406 feet. For those wondering, his heaviest home run this season was a 115.5 mph blast against the Chicago Cubs on June 11; his farthest home run, in contrast, was 456 feet against the Chicago White Sox on May 12.

Wednesday marked Judge’s 22nd career multi-player game, tying him with Jason Giambi for sixth in Yankee franchise history:

The soon-to-be free agent Judge entered the competition on Wednesday, hitting .300/.378/.644 (190+ pps) in his first 66 games of the season. According to the Baseball Reference, his contribution is already estimated at 3.4 wins over replacements.

The next big moment for Judge this week could be Friday. That’s when he and the Yankees should hold an arbitration hearing to determine his compensation. To learn more about this, you can click here to read our primer.

Judge wasn’t the only Yankee to hit a notable home run on Wednesday. Catcher José Trevino launched a two-run homer in the eighth round that turned a 4–3 deficit into a 5–4 lead:

The Yankees are currently 14 games ahead of the Races in the American East League. They have not lost a series since losing two out of three matches to the White Sox on May 21-22 and returning to New York to start a four-game set against the Astros starting Thursday.