NEW YORK – Aaron Judge hit his major-league leading 48th homer and Gerrit Cole allowed one hit in six innings to become the fourth active pitcher to reach 150 career wins as the New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Guardians 6-0 on Thursday.
Judge homered for the third straight game and is on pace to finish with 61, two years after hitting 62 to break Roger Maris’ single-season AL record. Judge homered for the sixth time in seven games, seventh time in 10 games and 13th time in 23 games.
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“I guess we’re on the pace portion of the season,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Look, anything’s possible with him. I think he just wants to be great every day and help us win. So nothing would surprise me.”
Judge had 49 homers through his first 128 games in 2022 and is the only Yankee with at least 48 through that point in multiple seasons. He joined Sammy Sosa (1998, 1999, 2001) and Mark McGwire (1998, 1999) as the third player in baseball history with at least 48 homers through 128 games in multiple seasons.
He also has 44 homers in his last 90 games since April 27 when he batted .197 in the first month. Two years ago, Judge homered once in his first 13 games.
“If it comes with a ring and a lot of fun in the playoffs, then definitely that’d be cool,” Judge said about potentially reaching 60 homers for the second time.
Judge hit his latest homer when he connected on a 2-1 changeup from Cleveland starter Gavin Williams (2-6) and lifted it to the right-field seats. The 360-foot drive marked the fourth time this season Judge homered in a third straight game and 14th time in his career.
“What a wonderful experience to have him on my team and be around him,” Cole said.
Cole (5-2) allowed a single to Steven Kwan on his second pitch and struggled with command at times. He tied a career worst by issuing five walks, struck out two and got eight outs on the ground, including a double play by rookie Jhonkensy Noel to end the sixth.
Cole joined Justin Verlander (260), Max Scherzer (216) and Clayton Kershaw (212) and reached the 150-win milestone in his 311th start.
“I grew up when they were important and widely viewed as important by everybody I would say,” Cole said. “To me it’s one of the stats that everybody has a hand in. So it’s really about your teammates and how often you take the field and play well together.”
The Yankees had a four-run fifth after Judge drew his 16th intentional walk this season. After seeing two sliders well out of the strike zone from Nick Sandlin, Judge took his ninth intentional walk in 18 games this month to load the bases.
Austin Wells followed with a sacrifice fly and Giancarlo Stanton hit a three-run homer that just cleared the center-field fence. It was the 10th time this season Judge and Stanton homered in the same game and 41st instance in the regular season.
Tim Hill, Luke Weaver and Michael Tonkin combined on three innings to allow zero hits and finish New York’s 10th shutout.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the first time in team history the Yankees allowed a hit to the first batter and none the rest of the game.
Williams allowed three runs and four hits in 4 1/3 innings and became the 231st different pitcher to allow a homer to Judge.
“You can’t make bad pitches to them,” Williams said. “They hit your mistakes.”
Cleveland lost for the fifth time in sixth games. The Guardians scored once and had five hits in the final two games of the series after scoring six times in the 12th for a 9-5 win Tuesday.
“It was just a tough week,” Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said. “We had a tough road trip offensively.”
The Guardians were one-hit for the second time this season and blanked for the 13th time.
José Ramírez drew two of his three walks against Cole and stole his 30th base, becoming the first Guardian with multiple 30-30 seasons.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Guardians: LHP Alex Cobb (fractured right fingernail) will throw a bullpen session in the next few days.
Yankees: 3B Jazz Chisholm Jr. (sprained left elbow), who took batting practice on the field for the first time Wednesday, is close to returning, according to manager Aaron Boone.
UP NEXT
Guardians: RHP Tanner Bibee (10-5, 3.33 ERA) opposes Texas RHP Nathan Eovaldi (8-7, 3.76) in the opener of a three-game series Friday in Cleveland.
Yankees: LHP Carlos Rodón (13-8, 4.34) opposes Colorado LHP Kyle Freeland (3-5, 5.97) in the opener of a three-game series Friday.
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This story has been corrected to show that Judge has homered in a third straight game four times this season, not three times.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb