New York’s Aaron Judge celebrates in the dugout after hitting a home run against the Minnesota Twins in the sixth inning Monday at New York. Noah K. Murray/Associated Press
NEW YORK — Aaron Judge kept up his bruising pace and hit his major league-leading 54th home run, connecting for the third straight day and sending the New York Yankees over the Minnesota Twins 5-2 on Monday.
Judge has homered in five of his last seven games for the AL East leaders. He snapped a 2-2 tie in the sixth inning when he hit a 3-1 slider from Trevor Megill (3-2) into the second deck in left.
The All-Star slugger reached 54 homers in his 131st game. He is on pace to hit 65 homers, four more than Roger Maris’ AL record in 1961. Judge reached 54 homers in New York’s 135th game; Maris hit his 54th when he connected off Washington’s Tom Cheney in New York’s 139th game on Sept. 6, 1961.
Judge, who also doubled, has scored five of New York’s last eight runs. He hit solo homers in the final two games at Tampa Bay, scored on a sacrifice fly by rookie Oswaldo Cabrera on Sunday and scored on a single by Josh Donaldson in the first on Monday.
Judge’s latest drive came after Gary Sanchez hit a 473-foot, two-run homer into the left-field bleachers off Jameson Taillon in the fifth that tied it at 2.
Sanchez tied the game by hitting a 1-0 sinker for his 14th homer since the Yankees traded him along with Gio Urshela to Minnesota for Donaldson, Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Ben Rortvedt on March 13.
After connecting, Sanchez watched the ball soar into the stands, dropped his bat and ran around the bases as some of his teammates pounded on the dugout rail.
Marwin Gonzalez also homered for the Yankees, ending an 0-for-29 skid with his first hit since July 6. Kiner-Falefa added his second homer this year in the seventh.
Greg Weissert (2-0) pitched 1 1/3 innings for his second career win. The Long Island native worked around an error in the sixth and was replaced by Wandy Peralta after walking two in the seventh.
Peralta quickly finished the seventh by getting Jose Miranda to hit into a double play, with Gonzalez making a nice scoop at first of Donaldson’s throw, and then fanned two in the eighth.
Clay Holmes pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his 19th save.
Judge scored when he doubled and scored on Donaldson’s single off the base of the left field wall. Judge scored just before Donaldson was tagged out at second after appearing to think he had homered.
BLUE JAYS SWEEP ORIOLES: Bo Bichette hit a career-high three home runs in the second game of a doubleheader, and visiting Toronto beat Baltimore 8-4 to complete a sweep and widen its lead in the AL wild-card race.
Bichette hit a three-run homer off Nick Vespi in the third inning, then added solo drives in the sixth and seventh off Bruce Zimmermann. The shortstop had six hits and seven RBI during the doubleheader, is hitting .400 (24 for 60) over his last 15 games and has 21 home runs this season.
Bichette lined to center in the ninth when he came up with a chance to tie the major league record of four home runs in a game. He matched a career high with five RBI in the nightcap.
Toronto won the opener 7-3 behind Kevin Gausman, who allowed two runs in 6 2/3 innings in his first outing at Camden Yards since Baltimore traded him in July 2018.
Cavan Biggio also homered in the second game for the Blue Jays, who extended their lead over Baltimore to 4½ games for the AL’s third and final wild-card spot. The teams will meet 10 times in the final 31 days of the regular season, a stretch that began Monday.
WHITE SOX 3, MARINERS 2: Lance Lynn struck out a season-high 11, Elvis Andrus hit a two-run home run and visiting Chicago ended Seattle’s seven-game winning streak.
Lynn retired the final 17 batters in a dominant outing.
Lynn (5-5) didn’t allow a base runner after Abraham Toro’s bloop RBI single in the second inning and he allowed just three hits.
A.J. Pollock also hit a solo home run for the White Sox.
Marco Gonzales (10-13) threw seven innings for the just second time since late June, allowing four hits and striking out three.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
BREWERS 6, ROCKIES 4: Victor Caratini hit a go-ahead three-run homer in the sixth inning for visiting Milwaukee, helping Craig Counsell earn managerial win No. 600.
Counsell reached the milestone in roller-coaster fashion, with his team trailing 3-0 after the first inning, rallying and then escaping a two-out, bases-loaded jam in the eighth. He became the winningest manager in franchise history earlier this season.
NATIONALS 6, CARDINALS 0: Jack Flaherty pitched five effective innings for St. Louis in his first big league action since June, but the NL Central-leading Cardinals had their four-game winning streak stopped by Joey Meneses and visiting Washington .
Meneses got three hits and fellow rookie C.J. Abrams had four to back five shutout innings from Anibal Sanchez (2-5). Washington, which has the worst record in the majors, has won three in a row.
Flaherty (0-1) returned from the injured list after being sidelined by a right shoulder issue. In his first start since June 26, he allowed one run on six hits and a walk. He struck out six and hit a batter while throwing 91 pitches.
DIAMONDBACKS 5, PADRES 0: Right-hander Ryne Nelson was brilliant in his big league debut, allowing four hits in seven innings and retiring 17 straight batters at one point to lead visiting over San Diego.
The 24-year-old Nelson (1-0) allowed Jurickson Profar’s leadoff double in the first, then didn’t permit another runner until Profar doubled into the right-field corner with two outs in the sixth and took third on a throwing error by Jake McCarthy.
Profar was stranded when Juan Soto flied out weakly to center and slammed his bat down in frustration.
The Padres had runners on first and second with two outs in the seventh before designated hitter Matt Beaty, batting just .095, flied out weakly to right.
Nelson struck out seven and walked none on 87 pitches.
NOTES
YANKEES: DH Giancarlo Stanton was lifted for a pinch hitter in the eighth after fouling a ball off his left foot in the sixth. Stanton grimaced and was unable to put any weight on his left foot. Boone said he’s not sure whether Stanton will be available for Tuesday night’s game.
• LF Andrew Benintendi will have surgery on Tuesday after breaking a bone in his right wrist during a swing Friday night. Manager Aaron Boone said Benintendi, acquired from Kansas City in late July, could play again this season. “I think the possibility of him returning is still in play,” Boone said.
• 1B Anthony Rizzo (lower back) is expected to resume baseball activities Wednesday. Rizzo was originally scheduled to resume baseball activities Monday but experienced headaches as a side effect from an epidural shot.
• LHP Aroldis Chapman (leg infection) may throw a bullpen session this week.
• OF Harrison Bader (right foot plantar fasciitis) hit in the cage and could begin a rehab stint next week.
METS-PIRATES, PPD.: The game between the New York Mets and Pittsburgh Pirates scheduled for Monday afternoon has been postponed due to rain.
The teams will play a split doubleheader Wednesday. The first game will be played at 12:35 p.m., with the second game set for 6:35 p.m.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.