Judge sets Yankees record with 34 home runs before All-Star break

BALTIMORE — Aaron Judge broke the New York Yankees’ home run record Saturday by hitting his 34th home run before the All-Star break.

Roger Maris scored 33 runs before the break in 1961, the year he finished the season with a major league record of 61. Judge tied that mark in 2022 and went on to score 62 runs, breaking what became an American League full-season record held by Maris.

In Major League Baseball, Judge’s 34 home runs are the most by an All-Star before the break since Chris Davis (37) in 2013, and that total is tied with Frank Howard in 1969 for seventh-most before the break of all time, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.

Juan Soto and Judge hit back-to-back home runs in the fifth inning of the team’s 6-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles, both hits to center field. Soto gave the Yankees a 5-1 lead with a 426-foot shot, then Judge followed with a lone, lofted shot from 431 feet.

Judge reached base all five times he came to the plate in Friday night’s series-opening win over Baltimore. In his first three at the plate Saturday, he hit a walk, a double and a home run.

“Hopefully those 34 strikes have led to a lot of wins,” Judge said after the win, when asked about his reaction to the accomplishment. “That’s the goal, right? Don’t really try to focus on your personal stats. It’s just about trying to get wins.”

From an RBI standpoint, Judge’s 85 runs scored are the most by any player before the break since Miguel Cabrera (95) and Davis (93), according to ESPN Stats & Information research.

It’s already been a tough start to the season for Judge, who was batting at a sub-.200 average in early May.

“Things like this happen. You can’t worry about it, you can’t worry about the boos,” Judge said. “We were winning games, that’s all that mattered to me. I got 500 or 600 hits to figure out. We’re putting ourselves in a great position going into the All-Star break.”

Judge scored 14 goals in May and another 11 in June.

The major league record for long hits before the All-Star break was 39, set by Barry Bonds in 2001. He then went on to set the major league record by hitting 73 long hits that year.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.