Roughly a month after accomplishing the same feat, New York Yankees star Aaron Judge delivered a remarkable performance by hitting three home runs in their 7-1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night. Judge's achievement makes him the first Yankees player ever to achieve multiple three-home run games in a single season.
Judge's impressive night began in the third inning at Yankee Stadium when he smashed a deep three-run homer off Diamondbacks pitcher Brandon Pfaadt, granting the Yankees an early 3-0 lead. In the fifth inning, after Estevan Florial's RBI double extended the lead to 4-0, Judge added a two-run shot, making it 6-0 for the Yankees. Two innings later, Judge completed his trifecta with a solo shot to right field, marking his third home run of the game.
This performance increased Judge's total home runs for the season to 35, which ties him for the third-highest in the American League. Remarkably, he achieved this despite playing in just 100 games due to a lingering toe injury sustained in June.
By the time Judge hit his third home run, the Diamondbacks were far behind, and the Yankees comfortably secured their fifth win in the last eight games. This victory also pushed them two games above a .500 win percentage. The Diamondbacks managed to score only one run, courtesy of a solo home run by Christian Walker in the ninth inning.
Judge had previously accomplished this feat against the Washington Nationals almost a month ago, recording three home runs in a single game for the first time in his career while matching his career-high of six RBIs in that game.
Despite Judge's outstanding performance, it is unlikely to significantly impact the Yankees' season. They currently trail the Baltimore Orioles by 17.5 games in the AL East and are seven games behind the final wild card spot in the American League. With just eight games left in their schedule, the Yankees are virtually assured of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2016.