NEW YORK (AP) — Aaron Judge became the second-fastest player in major league history to reach 200 career home runs, and the New York Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals 8-2 on Saturday.
“Excited to get that one out of the way,” Judge said. “Me and (Aaron Hicks) were kind of racing — he’s about to get to 100 and I was trying to get to 200, so we had a little race going on.”
The 6-foot-7 slugger’s 200th homer came in his 671st career game, behind just Philadelphia’s Ryan Howard, who achieved the feat in 2009 in 658 games.
Judge, who gave his first home run ball to his parents, was able to get his 200th from a “good family” without a big negotiation. He believes this one will go to his parents, as well.
DJ LeMahieu homered and had an RBI single, and Matt Carpenter homered for the 15th time in 40 games for New York, which won its third straight after dropping a pair of games to the New York Mets.
The American League-leading Yankees have won seven straight against the Royals and 10 of the last 11.
Whit Merrifield had a third-inning double for his 1,000th career hit and Salvador Perez had a sacrifice fly for the Royals, who have lost five straight.
A day after becoming the first player with 40 home runs this season, Judge fouled off two breaking balls from starter Jonathan Heasley before sending a 2-2 fastball into the right-center field seats for a two-run drive in the second inning. It was one of his two hits, and he also walked twice.
“He smoked it,” New York manager Aaron Boone said. “I told him the right fielder would have been moving in if I hit that same ball.”
“I feel like the big numbers, it’s always tough to get past those,” Judge said. “To get that out of the way, plus a win, is pretty sweet.”
Judge has 42 homers…