Fans may want to wait for another hitter to take their bathroom breaks.
Playing in just his second major league game, Aaron Judge homered in his first at-bat Sunday for the second straight day, becoming just the second player in Yankees history to homer in each of his first two games, joining Joe Lefebrve in 1980.
“I don’t think you can expect a homer every day. I think that would be a record,” manager Joe Girardi joked after the 12-3 loss to the Rays at Yankee Stadium. “It seems like every time he hits a ball in the air, people get excited.”
First informed he would be called up very late Friday night, Judge has exceeded the hype surrounding his eventual arrival since rushing to The Bronx.
In his first game in pinstripes, Judge crushed a 446-foot bomb to center, but the 6-foot-7 outfielder got help from his new home with his second career blast. With the Yankees trailing 2-0 in the third inning, Judge — batting eighth again — hit a liner off Jake Odorizzi to right-center field, which barely cleared the wall.
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He finished 1-for-3 with a walk, becoming the first Yankee to reach safely at least twice in each of his first two career games since Juan Miranda in 2008.
“It’s pretty crazy, but I’m just trying to do a job,” Judge said of his two home runs. “Coming into Game 1, I was comfortable. We’ve got a great group of guys in this clubhouse, and they’re gonna try and take care of me. … Just gotta keep it going. It’s been fun. Getting a chance to be up here and be part of the team is pretty exciting.”
Through two games, Judge is batting .429 (3-for-7) with one strikeout, though Girardi was equally pleased with the 24-year-old’s effort in the field. After making a running catch into the wall Saturday, Judge again impressed with his effort on a (failed) diving attempt of an Evan Longoria liner.
“We felt good about him when we called him up,” Girardi said. “We’ll take it slow with him, too. He’s a young player, and you want to make sure that he’s making adjustments. So far he’s looked really, really good. You look at the effort on the fly ball — that’s pretty special. I’ve been real pleased with his at-bats, the adjustments, his patience, what he’s swinging at.”
The home-run pace will slow, but the swings look like they will remain must-see.