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Gibbs Takes Pole At Pocono, Seeking First Cup Win
BALTIMORE -- Aaron Judge set a New York Yankees franchise record on Saturday with his 34th home run before the All-Star break.
Roger Maris hit 33 before the break in 1961, the year he finished with a major league record of 61. Judge matched that mark in 2022 and went on to hit 62 homers, breaking what had become an American League full-season mark held by Maris.
Across Major League Baseball, Judge's 34 homers are the most by a player before the All-Star break since Chris Davis (37) in 2013, and that total is tied with Frank Howard in 1969 for seventh most before the break all time, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.
Juan Soto and Judge hit back-to-back homers in the fifth inning of a 6-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles, both to center field. Soto's 426-foot drive gave the Yankees a 5-1 lead, and Judge followed with a towering solo shot that went 431 feet.
Judge reached base all five times he came to the plate in Friday night's series-opening win at Baltimore. In his first three plate appearances Saturday, he had a walk, a double and a homer.
"Hopefully, those 34 homers came with a lot of wins," Judge said after the victory, when asked what his reaction was to the accomplishment. "That's what it's all about, you know? Don't really try to focus on our stats, personal stats. It's just about trying to get wins."
From an RBI standpoint, Judge's 85 runs driven in are the most by any player before the break since Miguel Cabrera (95) and Davis (93), according to ESPN Stats & Information research.
It was actually a rough start to the season for Judge, who was batting under .200 in early May.
"Things like that happen. You can't worry about that, can't worry about getting booed," Judge said. "We were winning ballgames, that's all that really mattered to me. I've got 500, 600 at-bats to figure it out. We're putting ourselves in a great position going into the All-Star break."
Judge hit 14 homers in May and 11 more in June.
The major league record for homers before the All-Star break is 39 by Barry Bonds in 2001. He went on to set the big league record with 73 that year.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
