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Juan Soto hits 40th homer, Aaron Judge drives in 4 runs as Yankees thump Mariners 11-2

Posted 9/17/24

Aaron Judge drove in four runs in his first two at-bats, Juan Soto hit his 40th homer of the season and 200th of his career, and the New York Yankees moved to the cusp of clinching a playoff berth …

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Juan Soto hits 40th homer, Aaron Judge drives in 4 runs as Yankees thump Mariners 11-2

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SEATTLE (AP) — Aaron Judge drove in four runs in his first two at-bats, Juan Soto hit his 40th homer of the season and 200th of his career, and the New York Yankees moved to the cusp of clinching a playoff berth with an 11-2 win over the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night.

The Yankees can clinch at worst a wild-card spot in the American League with a victory over Seattle on Wednesday. The win in the opener of New York’s six-game road trip pushed the Yankees lead in the AL East to four games over Baltimore — their largest lead since holding a 4 1/2-game lead when play started on June 7.

Judge laced a two-run double three batters into the game and added a two-out, two-run single the next time he was up an inning later. Judge now has a league-leading 136 RBIs on the season.

Soto joined the offensive outburst in the third inning with a two-out, two-run opposite field blast off Seattle starter Bryan Woo. It’s the first time in his career Soto has reached the 40-homer mark and he’s now homered in all 30 parks in baseball.

Soto and Judge are the third set of Yankee teammates to each hit 40 home runs in a season joining Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig (1927, 1930, 1931), and Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris (1961).

The top three hitters in New York’s order — Judge, Soto and Gleyber Torres — were a combined 7-for-8 with four extra-base hits and six RBIs against Woo.

In two previous career starts against the Yankees, Woo had not given up a run. This time, he was tagged for a season-high seven earned runs in 4 2/3 innings of work and was knocked out after giving up Jasson Dominguez’s first homer since undergoing Tommy John surgery last September.

Woo (8-3) struck out seven and walked one. Austin Wells added a bases clearing double in the sixth inning as New York reached double figures in runs for the 14th time. Seattle had gone 107 consecutive home games without allowing 10 or more runs — the longest active streak in the majors.

Yankees starter Luis Gil struggled badly with his control early, but escaped trouble in the first inning thanks to a questionable decision by Victor Robles to try stealing home with the bases loaded, two outs and Justin Turner with a 3-0 count at the plate.

Robles was out and Gil (14-6) ended up working five innings giving up one run and striking out five. Jorge Polanco and Luke Raley hit solo homers and Julio Rodriguez — wearing crystal embellished shoes — had four hits for Seattle.

Marcus Stroman worked three innings of relief for the Yankees as part of his move to the bullpen for this road trip. It was the ninth relief appearance of his career. He gave up five hits including Raley's homer.

UP NEXT

Yankees: LHP Nester Cores (9-10, 3.90 ERA) threw five innings and allowed one run with nine strikeouts against Boston in his last start.

Mariners: RHP Bryce Miller (11-8, 3.12) has allowed one earned run and struck out 11 in his last two starts combined.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb