The Captain has company. Aaron Judge’s home run Sunday in Cleveland marked the 260th of his career, tying him with his Yankees captain predecessor, Derek Jeter, for ninth place on the franchise’s all-time list.
It came in a losing effort, however, as Cleveland walked off in the 10th inning with a 8-7 victory.
Judge’s three-run blast in the third inning served as an early highlight in an instant-classic affair that featured late-game heroics from both teams.
Former Yankees outfielder Estevan Florial broke a 4-4 tie with a pinch-hit solo home run off Luke Weaver in the bottom of the eighth inning, only for the Yankees’ Anthony Volpe to tie the game with a two-out RBI double against Cleveland closer Emmanuel Clase in the ninth.
Anthony Rizzo’s two-run double in the 10th gave the Yankees a 7-5 lead, but the Guardians engineered a three-run rally in the bottom of the inning against Caleb Ferguson, ending the game on an Andres Giminez sacrifice fly.
With the loss, the Yankees failed to finish off a three-game sweep of another early-season American League heavyweight and fell to 12-4 this season.
Judge’s 450-foot shot over Progressive Field’s wall in left-center gave the Yankees a 3-0 lead against Cleveland starter Logan Allen, and they led, 4-2, after Jose Trevino added his first homer of the year with a fourth-inning solo shot. Nestor Cortes failed to make that run support hold up, however, surrendering four runs in four innings.
Now in his eighth season with the Yankees, the 31-year-old Judge continues to make home run history. His 62 homers in 2022 remain an AL single-season season record. He is now 15 home runs behind Jorge Posada’s 275 for eighth place on the Yankees’ all-time list, and 27 away from Bernie Williams’ 287 for seventh place.
Judge is in his second season as the Yankees’ captain. He is the team’s first captain since Jeter, who held the title from 2003 until his retirement in 2014.
Sunday’s home run was the third of the year for Judge, who is heating up after a slow start. Judge entered the series against the Guardians hitting .178 but went 4-for-13 over the three games in Cleveland to boost his average to .207.
The Yankees and Guardians entered the weekend series with the two best records in the AL. Following a rainout Friday, the Yankees swept a split doubleheader Saturday.
Clarke Schmidt limited the hot-hitting Guardians to two runs (one earned) over 5+ innings in a 3-2 victory in Saturday’s first game, giving him his first win of the year. Cody Poteet then held the Guardians to one run over six innings in his Yankees debut – and his first MLB appearance since 2022 – in the nightcap, during which Juan Soto hit a three-run homer in an 8-2 victory.
The Yankees are now 8-2 on the road this season – a record they’ll attempt to improve upon during a three-game set in Toronto beginning Monday night.
