Slugger Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees blasted his 300th home run on Wednesday night during a 10-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox, accomplishing the feat quicker than any other player.
In his 955th game and 3,431st at-bat, Judge struck out three runs in the eighth inning. With a 3-0 up-and-in sinker Chad Kuhl facing him in left, the six-time All-Star and 2022 American League MVP crushed a home run into the White Sox bullpen, giving him a major league record 43 home runs.
In 1,087 games, Ralph Kiner and Babe Ruth each hit 300 home runs, while Ruth did so in 3,831 at-bats.
Judge replied, “I was hoping it came in a win,” as Austin Wells and DJ LeMahieu threw a tub of water at him.
In order to activate Judge, who hadn’t hit a home run on a 3-0 pitch since 2021, interim manager Grady Sizemore purposefully walked Juan Soto with the team losing 6-2.
“I was mad about the intentional walk so that kind of fuelled,” Judge stated. When the score is 3-0, I often take a pitch, see a pitch, and kind of pass it to the next player. However, in such case, you have to follow through even if they decline to pitch to you.”
Judge has the most intentional walks in the major leagues at 14. After hitting three home runs on Tuesday and another in the first inning on Wednesday, Soto was intentionally walked for the first time this season.
Judge remarked, “I understand why he did it, but it locks you in.” “The way Juan’s been swinging the bat and what he’s done in this series, four homers, driving the ball all over the park, I’d probably walk him, too, in that situation.”
In his fifth game as manager after replacing Pedro Grifol, Sizemore made the choice. He said that Soto’s four home runs influenced his decision.
Pick your poison, that is. I’m not attempting to approach Judge. I have an open base,” Sizemore declared. “There’s no solution or an easy way out of that jam, but Soto’s definitely been the hotter of those two bats, even though Judge has been hot, too.”
Judge is batting.333 and leads the big leagues in RBIs with 110. He is the 2022 AL MVP after hitting an American League-record 62 home runs. Eight years and one day had passed since Judge’s first major league home run in his debut at-bat.
Regarding the intentional walk, Yankees manager Aaron Boone remarked, “it definitely caught us off guard, but Aaron was ready to put up a great at-bat.”
Playfully, the manager remarked, “I thought he expanded the zone a little bit too much there on 3-0.”
