Aaron Judge hits 54th home run of 2024

OAKLAND — Aaron Judge will take fond memories with him from the Oakland Coliseum, a facility where he attended games as a young fan, and also where he patrolled center field during his first in-uniform workout with the big league squad.

Then a relatively unknown MLB Draft selection out of Fresno State University, the future Yankees captain once recalled extending a hand to Andy Pettitte, then being shocked that the veteran knew his name. Judge added one more highlight on Saturday, belting his Major League-leading 54th home run in the Bombers’ 10-0 victory over the Athletics.

Anthony Volpe hit a solo homer and Giancarlo Stanton rounded the bases with a long three-run shot as the Yanks thumped left-hander JP Sears for six runs in five innings. With the victory, the Yankees have a five-game lead over the Orioles in the American League East with seven regular-season games remaining.

A product of Linden, Calif., Judge’s homer came in the seventh inning off Brandon Bielak, giving Judge a two-homer advantage over the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani (52) for the big league lead. The drive matched Judge’s 2022 total of 90 extra-base hits, securing his place as just the fifth player since 1950 to achieve the feat over multiple seasons.

Left-hander Carlos Rodón tossed six scoreless innings, scattering five hits, to pick up his team-leading 16th victory. Rodón matched his career high with 31 starts, improving to 2-0 with a 1.93 ERA across four starts this month (5 ER, 23 1/3 IP).

The win was Aaron Boone’s 600th as Yankees manager, making him the seventh skipper to reach that plateau in franchise history (600-425). Boone joins Joe McCarthy (1,149), Joe Torre (1,173), Casey Stengel (1,149), Miller Huggins (1,067), Ralph Houk (944) and Joe Girardi (910).