Yankees.com: Judge crushes 351st dinger, tied for 6th on Yanks’ all-time list

From Bryan Hoch:

Alex Rodriguez said goodbye on the evening of Aug. 12, 2016, playing his final Major League game at Yankee Stadium. The next afternoon, Aaron Judge introduced himself to the Bronx, rattling the restaurant glass above Monument Park with a thunderous first career home run.

Nearly a decade later, the sluggers’ careers intersected again. Judge launched his 351st career homer in the first inning on Sunday, tying A-Rod for sixth place on the club’s all-time home run list in the Yankees’ 4-2 victory over the Braves in the rubber match at Truist Park.

Besides Judge’s historic home run, this was a nice and boring victory. Msrcus Stroman quietly pitched six one-run innings, the bullpen turned in nice outing by Ian Hamilton and Tim Hill (especially Hill), and Devin Williams struggled a bit, giving up a home run to Ronald Acuna, but to be frank, in a three-run game, I can see the logic of just challenging Acuna, who is a great hitter, and being willing to live with the home run if that’s what happens.

It’s not GOOD, of course, but you know what I mean, with a three-run cushion, you definitely pitch differently.

Stroman was a godsend, eating a lot of innings ahead of a big Toronto series where Cam Schlittler might just be terrible in his second game in the Majors (or he might look as good as he did in his first MLB start), and Max Fried might not be able to pitch a normal game due to his blisters.

The Yankees at least remain in the top Wild Card spot, and gained a game on Boston in that race, and kept even with Tampa Bay. This Toronto series, of course, will be a big deal.

Featured image is Stroman celebrating a nicely turned double play. The Yankees infield defense has obviously been much better since Jazz moved back to second base.