Aaron Judge is at it again.
Almost exactly a month after he did it the first time, the New York Yankees star rattled off three home runs in their 7-1 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night. Judge is now the first Yankees player to ever record multiple three-home run games in a single season.
Judge got the night started in the third inning at Yankee Stadium, when he drilled a deep three-run homer off Diamondbacks starter Brandon Pfaadt. That gave them an early 3-0 lead.
Then in the fifth inning, after Estevan Florial hit an RBI double to put the Yankees up 4-0, Judge hit a two-run shot. That put the Yankees up 6-0.
Two innings later, Judge completed the trifecta. He hit a solo shot to right field to officially get his third home run of the night.
It marked Judge’s 35th home run of the season.
By then, the Diamondbacks were well out of it. The Yankees cruised to the 7-0 win, their fifth in the last eight games. The win brought them two games above .500, too. Pfaadt lasted just more than four innings, and had eight strikeouts to go with the eight hits he allowed. He now holds a 2-9 record this season. Arizona’s only run of the game came off a Christian Walker solo home run in the ninth inning.
Almost a month ago to the day, Judge pulled off the same feat against the Washington Nationals. He hit three home runs in a single game for the first time in his career, and matched his career-high six RBI in the outing.
While Judge’s performance is undoubtedly impressive, it’s likely not going to matter for the Yankees. They sit 17.5 games back from the Baltimore Orioles in the AL East, and are a full seven games back from the final wild card spot in the American League. With just eight games left on their schedule, the Yankees will need everything to go right to ensure they don’t miss the playoffs for the first time since 2016.