NEW YORK (AP) — Aaron Judge hit two home runs to tie Hall of Fame outfielder Joe DiMaggio for fourth place in Yankees history as New York beat the Detroit Tigers 9-3 on Thursday night to avert a three-game sweep.
On the 24th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, President Donald Trump attended the game and watched from a suite on the third base side.
Judge homered off Tyler Holton (5-5) in the first inning and matched DiMaggio by launching his 361st career homer with a 434-foot drive to the back of the Detroit bullpen off Sawyer Gipson-Long in the third.
Judge had his sixth multihomer game this season and pulled even with DiMaggio two nights after passing Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra for fifth on the franchise list.
The two-time AL MVP had three hits and ended the night with a major league-best .322 batting average, three points ahead of Athletics rookie shortstop Jacob Wilson.
Giancarlo Stanton followed Judge’s second solo shot with his 449th homer, tying Hall of Famers Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Jeff Bagwell for 41st on the career list.
Including the postseason, it was the 56th time Judge and Stanton homered in the same game and fifth time this season.
Ben Rice hit an RBI double and José Caballero, Austin Slater, Cody Bellinger and Jazz Chisholm Jr. had run-scoring singles as the Yankees moved a half-game ahead of Boston for the top American League wild card heading into a three-game series at Fenway Park this weekend.
New York rookie Cam Schlittler (3-3) bounced back from his worst start and allowed one run on three hits in six innings.
Dillon Dingler homered and hit an RBI single, but the Tigers were unable to complete their first sweep of the Yankees in New York since 2008.
Key moment
After allowing Dingler’s tying single, Schlittler ended a 26-pitch second inning by striking out Parker Meadows and retiring Javier Báez on a groundout.
Key stat
The Yankees are 49-7 when Judge and Stanton homer in the same game.
Up next
Detroit ace Tarik Skubal (13-4, 2.10 ERA) opens a three-game series in Miami against Sandy Alcantara (8-12, 5.67) in a matchup of Cy Young Award winners on Friday.
New York RHP Luis Gil (3-1, 3.31 ERA) opposes RHP Lucas Giolito (10-3, 3.38) in the opener of a three-game series at Boston on Friday.
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