Sep 25, 2017; Bronx, NY, USA; New York Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge (99) hits his 50th home run against the Kansas City Royals during the seventh inning of the game at Yankee Stadium. Photo Credit: Gregory J. Fisher-USA TODAY Sports
NEW YORK — Aaron Judge tied Mark McGwire’s rookie record for homers in the third inning and broke the mark in the seventh as the New York Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals 11-3 during a makeup game Monday afternoon.
Judge tied McGwire by hitting a full-count fastball from Jakob Junis (8-3) into the back rows of the lower portion of the right-center field seats just below the bleachers with one out in the third. Judge tied McGwire after looking at a called strike two and thinking he walked.
Judge reached 49 in his 150th game and 525th at-bat. McGwire did it in 151 games and 547 at-bats. In his second attempt at getting the 50th homer, Judge emphatically broke McGwire’s mark, hitting a 2-1 breaking ball from Trevor Cahill into the left-center field seats and clearing the Royals bullpen, giving New York a 7-3 lead and becoming the fifth Yankee to reach 50 homers.
Greg Bird hit a two-run homer and Gary Sanchez followed Judge’s record-breaking homer with his 33rd of the season as the Yankees lowered their magic number for clinching home field in next Tuesday’s wild-card game to two and won for the 17th time in 24 games.
Braves 9, Mets 2 (Game 1)
NEW YORK — Rookie right-hander Lucas Sims had a day to remember on the mound and at the plate, leading Atlanta over New York in the opener of a doubleheader.
Sims tossed 6 2/3 strong innings and collected his first major league hit to start a three-run sixth. The Braves have won four of five while the Mets have lost three straight and 11 of 14. The 90-loss season is the first for New York since 2009.
The 6 2/3 innings were a career high for Sims (3-5), who allowed two runs on five hits and two walks while striking out six in his first start since Sept. 2. He carried a four-hit shutout into the seventh and was lifted with two on and two outs before Dan Winkler gave up a two-run double to Tomas Nido.
