New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge is back at it again. For the second night in a row, the former American League Most Valuable Player punished a ball and sent it to space, as he hit a monster 473-foot home run in the bottom of the eighth inning in New York’s series finale Thursday night at home versus the Houston Astros. While his late-game blast was not enough for the Yankees to avoid a 4-3 loss to the Astros, that homer still had everyone buzzing at Yankee Stadium — and online.
That home run from Judge also ties him with Los Angeles Angels superstar Mike Trout for the longest blast so far in the 2024 MLB season. Trout, of course, is sidelined by an injury, so he won’t be able to respond to that Judge tater.
The funny thing about Judge’s dinger was that it somehow bested Jon Singleton’s home run that went 442 feet deep during the first inning. Singleton’s blast could have happened in any other game on Thursday and easily became that contest’s longest home run. Judge is simply a completely different animal at the plate.
After batting just .220 with six home runs in April, Judge is sizzling this May. He entered the series finale against the Astros batting .375 on the month to go with a .483 OBP and .792 slugging. His latest home run was his third of the month. A night before, Judge launched a 404-foot homer in the third inning of a 9-4 Yankees win against Houston.
Fans react to Yankees superstar’s monster home run vs Astros
Some reactions from fans on X (the social media platform formerly known as X) to Aaron Judges’ home run:
“He likes to hit baseballs.”
“That’s our best takeaway Judge hit a homer longer than Singleton today, he is hot!”
“That literally only stopped cuz it hit the sign. That was traveling way further, holy cow.”
“Everyone homers against the Astros’ pitching staff.”
“About time Judge did something”
“You know the drill All Rise!”
“Bro got pitched a soft ball on a 3-1 count…. Talk about not being rigged??!”
“This is why they call him the Judge. I never judge a batting average. ”
It was also just a matter of time it seemed before Judge hit one out of the park against Astros relief pitcher Ryan Pressly. Entering the game, Judge was 5-for-6 with a double but zero home runs against Pressly. Well, he can add Pressly to his growing list of home run victims after touching all the bases at the expense of the veteran pitcher.
Aaron Judge, Yankees cool off after hot stretch
Unfortunately for the Yankees, Aaron Judge’s late-game heroics could not get them over the hump versus the Astros. Their loss to Houston snapped the Yankees’ five-game win streak and robbed them of a chance to sweep their American League rivals. Marcus Stroman took the pitching loss in the contest, as he allowed four earned runs on nine hits with two walks issued and five strikeouts in 5.2 innings of work on the mound.
The 25-14 Yankees can bounce right back and return to their winning ways when they face off against the Tampa Bay Rays in a three-game series that starts this Friday at Tropicana Field in Saint Petersburg. The Yankees are expected to start Clarke Schmidt in the series opener.
