Aaron Judge hits homer No. 44, now five shy of MLB's rookie record

In case you haven’t noticed, Aaron Judge appears to be back. The New York Yankees slugger, who suffered a terrible post-All-Star slump, has hit five homers in his past eight games after a first-inning blast Monday night at Yankees Stadium against the Minnesota Twins.

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That’s No. 44 for Judge, who is now getting closer to Mark McGwire’s all-time rookie record of 49, which he reached in 1987. It’s stood for 30 years, but could very well be falling soon if Judge has indeed found his homer stroke. The 25-year-old hit only three homers in all of August after 27 in the season’s first three months. But he already has seven in September to go along with 15 RBIs.

Judge was also hitting .262 in the last 13 games heading into Monday’s action. That’s not the .326 average he had at the end of June, but it’s not the .185 he hit in August either.

And the Yankees will take it all, since they’re currently trying to catch the Boston Red Sox in the AL East. They’re three games back after a 2-1 win Monday night because the Red Sox also won. Either way, the Yanks look good for a wild-card spot in the AL, which means we’ll see if Judge can launch these bombs in the postseason.

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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz