MLB

Aaron Judge homers twice in Yankees win, Mariners rookie announces arrival

By Sports Desk May 01, 2022

Two home runs from New York Yankees superstar Aaron Judge carried his side to a 6-4 road win against the Kansas City Royals on Sunday.

After the game started with an 11-pitch ground-out from Yankees lead-off hitter D.J. LeMahieu, Judge stepped up next and sent the second pitch he saw – a fastball down the middle from Daniel Lynch – 453 feet over the center-field wall for a 1-0 lead.

That lead held until the bottom of the third inning, when Royals lead-off hitter Michael Taylor smoked the first pitch he saw for a solo home run, igniting a three-run frame for the home side. Kansas City extended their lead to 4-1 after a throwing error from Yankees third baseman Josh Donaldson an inning later.

New York grabbed two runs back in the fifth after Isiah Kiner-Falefa brought Miguel Andujar home with an RBI double, before scoring himself from a LeMahieu single to cut the margin back to 4-3.

Two walks and a hit-by-pitch gave the Yankees life in the seventh inning, loading the bases with no outs to allow Judge to drive in a run by grounding out to the pitcher, before Donaldson drove in one more to grab a 5-4 lead.

With two outs in the top of the ninth inning, clinging to a one-run buffer, Judge let New Yorkers breathe easy as he sent a towering shot over the opposite-field wall for his second homer of the game, sealing the win.

Judge – who will be a free agent at the end of this season after failing to come to terms on a long-term extension with the Yankees – finished with three RBIs, going two-for-five from the plate, and now sits one home run off the major league leader, teammate Anthony Rizzo (nine).

Julio Rodriguez announces his arrival

Seattle Mariners rookie sensation Julio Rodriguez hit his first career home run in a 7-3 away win against the Miami Marlins.

Rodriguez was listed as a top-five prospect in all of baseball before being promoted to the majors at the start of this season, and while he has two more stolen bases than anyone else in the league (nine), he has had some early struggles with the bat.

His big moment came in the sixth inning as he stepped up to the plate with two runners on base and two outs, driving a ball 450 feet over the center-field wall to turn a 2-0 lead into a 5-0 lead. It came after the Marlins opted to intentionally walk the batter before Rodriguez, daring him to make them pay.

The Mariners pitchers finished the job thanks to another strong start from Logan Gilbert, who after conceding just one earned run in five-and-two-thirds is now second in the majors for ERA at 0.68 – giving up two runs through five starts and 28 innings.

Mets give Max some runs

The New York Mets gave ace pitcher Max Scherzer some handy run-support to take a 10-6 win against the Philadelphia Phillies in the Sunday night primetime fixture.

New York's 15 hits set a new season-high for the club, and 10 runs also equalled the Mets' most, as Dominic Smith starred with four hits from four plate appearances.

Smith drove in three runs, as did teammate Starling Marte, giving Scherzer a buffer when he left the game after six complete innings, allowing four runs from five hits and a walk while striking out nine.

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