Aaron Judge hit a three-run homer in the first inning, his 500th career extra-base hit. He had three hits and four RBIs, and the New York Yankees took a big lead and held on for a 9-7 victory over the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday night.
That home run hit in the first inning was the fifth of the season in the first six games for “The Judge“, to equal the record set by Alex Rodriguez in the 2007 season with the most home runs for a Yankees player in that same span
Aaron Judge sets four records vs. Arizona
Judge reached the milestone by driving a 1-1 fastball from Merrill Kelly (0-1) of Arizona into the Yankees bullpen, beyond right-center field, for a 3-0 lead.
With his performance on the night, the team captain reached 15 RBIs in the team’s first six games, a figure that ranks him second with the most RBIs by any player in that span, behind only Chris Davis (17 in 2013) and tying Pat Burrell (15 in 2005) in the statistic.
And with that mark, Judge also gets the record for the most RBIs in the history of the franchise since the statistic has been counted (RBIs in 1920), surpassing Mickey Mantle (1956) and A-Rod (2007) who each managed to leave their mark with 13 RBIs in six games.
Judge hit a home run in his 999th career game, becoming the third-fastest player in team history to reach 500 extra-base hits, behind Lou Gehrig (874 games) and Joe DiMaggio (853 games).
A complete night for Judge and the Bronx Bombers
Judge added an RBI single in New York’s three-run fourth inning and finished his first home series of the season with five home runs and 15 RBIs. Jazz Chisholm Jr. added a two-run homer and Trent Grisham contributed three hits and drove in three runs. Grisham hit a two-run homer and an RBI single, while the Yankees scored 53 runs and hit 22 home runs in their first six games.
Carlos Carrasco (1-0) consistently stayed ahead of hitters and allowed three runs and five hits in 5 1/3 innings. The veteran right-hander struck out five and walked two for his first win since June 21 and received an ovation from the crowd after his last pitch.
Geralado Perdomo hit Arizona’s second grand slam of the series when he connected off Ryan Yarbrough with no outs in the seventh. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit an RBI single and Alek Thomas hit a pair of RBI groundouts in the first four innings for Arizona.
One night after Zac Gallen struck out 13 in 6 2/3 innings, Kelly gave up a career-high nine runs and nine hits in 3 2/3 innings.
After Judge’s home run, Grisham hit a double against Gurriel’s glove to left field in the second inning and hit a 3-1 fastball to the right-field stands for a 6-1 lead in the third. The Yankees opened up a 9-3 lead with Judge’s single to center and Chisholm’s home run to the right-field stands.
After Perdomo’s home run to right, Yarbrough got the first two outs and Mark Leiter Jr. struck out Gurriel to close out the seventh. Luke Weaver got the final four outs for his first save.
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