Aaron Judge hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning to become the fastest player in baseball history to reach 300 career homers, helping the New York Yankees pull away for a 10-2 victory over the host Chicago White Sox on Wednesday.
Judge reached the milestone in his 955th regular-season game, one day past the eighth anniversary of his major league debut. He eclipsed the mark previously set by Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner, who reached 300 homers in his 1,087th game.
Judge became the 162nd player all-time to reach 300 homers and the 17th player to reach the mark while playing for the Yankees.
With New York already holding a 6-2 lead and following an intentional walk to Juan Soto, Judge lifted a 3-0 pitch from Chad Kuhl into the back of Chicago’s bullpen in left field. It was Judge’s major-league-leading 43rd homer this year and his eighth in 18 games.
The next batter after Judge’s milestone homer, Austin Wells, lifted a solo homer off Steven Wilson for a 10-2 lead.
Wells also had a two-run tiebreaking single in the seventh inning, when the Yankees scored three times off relievers Justin Anderson and Dominic Leone (0-2).
Earlier in the seventh, New York’s Alex Verdugo hit a tying sacrifice fly that scored Oswaldo Cabrera from second. Verdugo added an RBI double in the eighth ahead of Judge’s milestone homer.
Soto went deep in the first inning, giving him four homers in four consecutive at-bats after he homered three times the previous night. The Yankees did not score again until the seventh.
Cabrera tagged up when Verdugo’s fly ball was tracked down by right fielder Dominic Fletcher. As Fletcher made a running catch and avoided colliding with center fielder Luis Robert Jr., Cabrera tied it on a headfirst slide.
After Leone walked Soto, Judge doubled and Wells lined a 1-2 fastball to left field for a 4-2 lead.
Gavin Sheets hit his first homer since June 8 and had an RBI single, but the White Sox failed in their bid to win the three-game series. Chicago last prevailed in a series when it took two of three at home against the Colorado Rockies from June 28-30.
New York rookie starting pitcher Will Warren allowed two hits on seven runs in five innings. He struck out five and walked none in his third career start.
Tim Hill (4-0) pitched a 1-2-3 sixth to set it up for New York’s three-run seventh. Michael Tonkin held the White Sox scoreless over the final three frames for his second save.
Chicago rookie Davis Martin gave up one run on four hits in 5 2/3 innings. He struck out five and walked three.