Aaron Judge reached 50 homers for the fourth time in his career to tie a major league record, and the host New York Yankees moved into a tie for the American League East lead with an 8-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday night.
Judge homered on the first pitch he saw against Jonathan Cannon (4-10), hammering a sinker into the Yankee bullpen in right-center field to reach the milestone on a go-ahead three-run homer in the second inning. He reached 50 homers for the second straight season after hitting 52 as a rookie in 2017 and an AL-record 62 in 2022.
Six innings later, Judge hit his 51st homer of the season on an eighth-inning solo shot.
Judge joined Babe Ruth (1920, 1921, 1927, 1928), Mark McGwire (1996-1999) and Sammy Sosa (1998-2001) as the fourth player with four 50-homer seasons.
Judge had three hits and reached four times to raise his average to a major league-best .328. The slugger notched his 46th career multi-homer game, tying Mickey Mantle for the second-most in Yankees history.
With the win, the Yankees (90-68) moved into a tie with the Toronto Blue Jays atop the AL East. New York has won seven of its last eight games while Toronto has lost six of seven.
New York ended the night with a share of first place for the first time since July 2 and improved to 21-8 in its past 29 games since a 12-1 loss to the Red Sox left them 6 1/2 out on Aug. 23. The Yankees must finish ahead of the Blue Jays to claim the division since they lost eight of 13 meetings.
Max Fried (19-5) allowed one run on four hits in seven innings for his sixth straight victory. Fried struck out seven and walked two while completing seven innings for the fifth time in six starts.
Paul Goldschmidt contributed an RBI single and scored from first base on a double by Jazz Chisholm Jr. in the third. Trent Grisham blasted a two-run homer in the eighth, extending his career high to 34 homers.
Chicago opener Fraser Ellard allowed three walks and exited with two outs in the first after loading the bases. Cannon permitted five runs on six hits in 4 1/3 innings.
Chicago scored on a sacrifice fly by Lenyn Sosa in the second. The White Sox (58-100) lost for the 10th time in 11 games and reached 100 losses for the third straight season.
