Giancarlo Stanton blasts 30th home run; Aaron Judge goes homerless again
ARLINGTON — Aaron Judge watched in the background.
Giancarlo Stanton blistered his 30th home run of the season Monday night to help the Yankees to a 3-1 win over the Rangers at Globe Life Park, but Stanton was being asked about Judge’s chase for his record-breaking 62nd homer of the season.
Judge made faces and laughed as he watched and listened.
So, no, the fourth straight game without a home run as the Yankees’ regular season has just three games left does not seem to have him pressing or anxious. It did have the 35,906 at the new ballpark disappointed though. They came to see Judge make history. Instead, he went 1-for-4 with a strikeout. His batting average remained at .311, now four points lower than Minnesota’s Luis Arraez who leads the American League.
If Judge is able to surpass Arraez’s batting average, the slugger will be in position to win the Triple Crown award. It would be the first Triple Crown winner since Miguel Cabrera won in 2012.
In the top of the ninth, Judge was on deck when Marwin Gonzalez popped out to end the inning. The pop up made the crowd boo loudly. Gonzalez denied them another chance to see Judge chase history.
In the eighth, Gonzalez led off with a homer off of Jonathan Hernandez and then Judge struck out swinging on a 99-mile an hour sinker.
Giancarlo Stanton followed with his 30th home run of the season. He is the third Yankee this season to hit at least 30 homers, joining Judge and Anthony Rizzo, who has 32. They are the first trio of Yankees to hit at least 30 homers in the same season since 2005, when Jason Giambi, Alex Rodriguez and Gary Sheffield did it.
Boone said that Judge could play in both games of a split doubleheader on Tuesday and his schedule is contingent on him hitting No. 62.
