Aaron Judge hits 53rd homer, sets career high for RBIs

NEW YORK — Aaron Judge shook his head ever so slightly after fouling a ball back into the seats during the third inning on Sunday, clearly upset that he had missed a hittable pitch. He wasn’t going to miss another.

On the next offering, Judge launched his Major League-leading 53rd home run, carrying his bat more than halfway to first base after a mammoth 445-foot Statcast-projected blast — the biggest blow in the Bombers’ 5-2 victory over the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium.

“I thought I did that every time, no?” Judge said. “It was a big homer. We’re playing the Red Sox — big games, big moments. So just having some fun with it there.”

With Judge’s two-run homer and a solo Gleyber Torres blast supporting left-hander Carlos Rodón’s team-leading 15th win, the Yankees wrapped their homestand by taking three of four games from the Red Sox.

Packing for their final road trip of the regular season, they lead the Orioles by three games in the American League East with 12 games remaining.

“We can do something special,” Torres said. “We’re really focused, everybody is on the same page right now. Let’s see after the West Coast series where we are.”

Wearing No. 21 across his back in honor of Roberto Clemente Day around Major League Baseball, Judge’s homer made it a happy flight.

The drive came after Red Sox manager Alex Cora insinuated that Brayan Bello threw a pitch near Judge intentionally in the sixth inning on Saturday — Boston’s response after Gerrit Cole had hit three batters earlier in the contest.

Apprised of Cora’s comments, Yankees manager Aaron Boone said, “Yeah, that’s not allowed. That’s for someone else to deal with.” Judge said that he and Cora spoke on Saturday, which Judge described as “a good convo, and I think I’ll kind of keep it at that.”

“I think they’re just protecting their players,” Judge said. “So something’s got to happen, and that’s the way this game kind of gets policed. It’s been policed for over 100 years. So I think the biggest thing is, just don’t miss when you do it.”

Judge sure took advantage of his second crack at Crawford, turning on a 92.2 mph four-seamer down the middle. The blast came off Judge’s bat at 112.1 mph and rattled the glass toward the right side of the center-field restaurant, landing on the netting over Mariano Rivera’s retired number.

“That was a bomb. What a great swing,” Rodón said. “For him, it’s pretty normal. Not many guys take that pitch out to center like that and hit it that high. 112 is one of his better bolts, but not one of his best. Big G [Giancarlo Stanton] is probably one of the only other ones that can do it. It’s just impressive.”

“He’s different,” said Tommy Kahnle, who recorded the last two outs on a double play for his first save of the season. “It’s enjoyable to watch him every day. We kind of miss it [in the bullpen] because when he hits it to left field, we don’t see the landing spot.”

Judge’s 132 RBIs are a career high. It made him one of four Yankees in the past 63 years (since 1962) to record that many RBIs in a season, joining Don Mattingly (145 in 1985), Tino Martinez (141 in 1997) and Alex Rodriguez (156 in 2007).

Though Judge’s homer pace cooled with a 16-game drought, he hit two big ones in the Red Sox series, including a go-ahead grand slam on Friday. Judge has now reached base 300 times this year, the most by a Yankee in the team’s first 150 games since Mickey Mantle (319 in 1957).

“It’s been an amazing season,” Boone said. “You’re not going to keep him off the board for long. That ball he hit today, that ball was clean out off the restaurant out there, the batter’s eye.”

The front-runner for the AL’s Most Valuable Player Award, Judge concluded play on Sunday pacing the Majors in homers, RBIs, times on base, on-base percentage (.455), slugging percentage (.692), walks (122), total bases (364) and extra-base hits (88).

A recitation of those numbers would generate little more than knowing nods in the Yankees’ clubhouse, where Torres said teammates are no longer surprised by Judge’s performance. They’re just appreciative.

“Whatever he can do right now, I’m glad to see it in person,” Torres said. “Sometimes we take it for granted, but it’s not that easy, what he’s doing right now. Every day, he’s doing the right things. It’s really special. I think he can do something special these last [two] weeks. We’re here to see it.”