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BALTIMORE — When the Yankees first examined the pitcher-friendly changes made to Camden Yards’ measurements, Aaron Judge frowned and said the deeper wall in left field spoiled one of his favorite hitting spots. He seems to have dreamed up the place.
In his first three home games on Friday night in the Inner Harbor, Judge hit twice and increased his major league-leading long ball to 36 while taking home a piece of franchise history in New York’s 7-6 win over the Orioles took.
“My dad actually texted me [on Friday] and said, ‘Hey, make sure you go to right field — they’ve got this big wall in left field,'” Judge said. “I told him I could try to get one over it. We have two.”
With eight multihomer games at the top of the major leagues this season and 24 in his career, Judge is the fifth Yankee to have eight multihomer games in a season, tied with Babe Ruth (1927), Mickey Mantle (1961), Alex Rodriguez (2007) and Gleyber Torres (2019).
“What else can you say?” said manager Aaron Boone. “He was the best player in the league. Tonight the way he hit those balls it’s just really impressive what he continues to do. He plays a great midfield. He just does a little bit of everything.”
Judge is on track for 61 homers, which would match Roger Maris’ total in 1961 – still an American League record. No major league player has hit 60 home runs in a season since Barry Bonds hit 73 and Sammy Sosa 64 in 2001, and Judge’s teammates believe he can do it.
“He could definitely do anything at his pace,” said right-hander Jameson Taillon. “The impressive thing about him is that he comes in every night and puts together super professional bats. He waits for the launcher to make a mistake and jumps on it. It doesn’t seem to be in his head or anything.”
Judge is still looking for the first three-homer game of his career, but he gave Taillon an early lead in the third inning. Judge’s three-run shot-off starter Tyler Wells sailed towards the left field bullpens projected by Statcast at 436 feet.
“I was happy to get on the board with the first to give our pitching team an early lead,” Judge said. “If you give our team a head start early, it usually comes to a good result.”
Coincidentally, the 6-foot-8 Wells is the only player Judge (6-foot-7) has homered in the big leagues taller than him.
“It just shows with Judge or even the entire Yankees lineup that you miss [in the] Mitte, you make mistakes, you’re going to pay for them,” Wells said. “It’s one of the reasons they’re the best team in baseball.”
The Judge went deep again in the fifth inning, clearing the guest bullpen with a solo blast projected a staggering 465 feet. It was Judge’s longest of the season and the third-longest homer to be pursued at Camden Yards.
“He and Giancarlo [Stanton], if they really do step on you, I try to calm down just so I can catch the flight,” Boone said. “It’s just different.”
Judge always enjoyed swinging big against the O’s; His 34 career homers in 82 games against Baltimore are his most against any opponent.
He needn’t have worried about the remodeling; Hoping to help their up-and-coming pitching staff, the Orioles streamlined the exterior dimensions of their retro park, which opened in 1992.
The left fieldwall was pushed back 30 feet and the outfield wall raised 12 feet, costing Jude what might be his first three-homer game of his career on May 17 when it swallowed a first-inning blast that saw Judge throw an attempt, to stretch his double into a triple.
Judge’s 36 home runs are six ahead of the Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber (30) for the major league lead and eight ahead of the Astros’ Yordan Alvarez (28) in the AL. The judge said he didn’t pay much attention to the rankings.
“It’s not necessary,” Judge said. “I’m not getting paid for that. I get paid to help the Yankees win games. That’s what I try to focus on. I look at the standings more than anything else.”
