BOSTON (AP) — New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge hit his 362nd career home run on Friday night, breaking a tie with Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio and taking sole possession of fourth place on the franchise’s all-time list.
One game after Judge homered twice to tie DiMaggio with President Donald Trump at Yankee Stadium to mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, the Yankees captain hit the second pitch he saw from Boston’s Lucas Giolito in the first inning over the Green Monster and onto Lansdowne Street.
The 468-foot shot gave New York a 1-0 lead over Boston as the longtime rivals battle for playoff position. The Yankees entered the night with a one-half game edge over the Red Sox in the AL East, behind division leader Toronto, with both in position for a wild-card berth.
Judge reached 362 homers in his 1,130th game. DiMaggio played 1,736 games and hit his last homer on Sept. 28, 1951, at the end of a 13-year career that was interrupted for three seasons because he served in World War II.
Judge’s 47th homer of the season raised his major league-best batting average to .324.
Judge broke a tie with Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra for fifth on New York’s career list Tuesday night. Babe Ruth hit 659 of his 714 homers with the Yankees. Mickey Mantle (536) and Lou Gehrig (493) are the other Yankees ahead of Judge.
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