NEW YORK (AP) — Aaron Judge homered twice and drove in three runs and Juan Soto hit a two-run homer in the first inning and drove in five to power the New York Yankees to an 8-1 rout over the Cleveland Guardians on Wednesday night.
Judge hit a two-run homer in the third and added a solo shot in the seventh, upping his major league-leading total to 47. Judge has six homers in his last nine games, 12 in his last 23 games and is on pace to hit 60 home runs.
Judge had his fourth multi-homer game this season and it was the slugger’s 38th career multi-homer game.
Soto hit his career-high 36th homer on rookie Joey Cantillo’s sixth pitch, a 2-2 offering he sent onto the netting above Monument Park in center field. He eclipsed his career best set last season with San Diego.
Soto homered for the eighth time in nine games, a stretch that began with his three-homer game last week in Chicago against the White Sox.
Judge and Soto homered in the same game for the second straight game and 11th time overall. The Yankees improved to 9-2 this season when the powerful duo go deep in the same game.
Soto tied a season high with five RBIs for the second time and followed his homer with a bases-clearing double in the fourth.
Soto reached three times and walked ahead of Judge’s two-run shot in the third.
Nestor Cortes (7-10) pitched seven innings of four-hit ball and gave New York some much-needed length after the Yankees used every reliever Tuesday. The lefty won consecutive starts for the first time since May 17 and 22.
In his fourth career start, Cantillo (0-3) allowed seven runs and six hits in four innings. He was one strike away from getting out of the fourth before Soto doubled.
Rookie Jhonkensy Noel homered in the eighth off Tim Mazya as Cleveland lost for the 11th time in 17 games and pulled Steven Kwan and Jose Ramírez after batting in the seventh.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Yankees: RHP Luis Gil (strained lower back) was placed on the injured list after exiting in the fourth inning Tuesday. … RHP Clarke Schmidt (strained right lat), out since May 27, will begin a rehab assignment Friday for Double-A Somerset. … 3B Jazz Chisholm Jr. (sprained left elbow) took batting practice on the field for the first time since going on the IL a week ago. … 1B Anthony Rizzo (broken right forearm) took batting practice on the field.
UP NEXT
New York RHP Gerrit Cole (4-2, 4.15 ERA) makes his first attempt at becoming the fourth active pitcher to reach 150 career wins and opposes Cleveland RHP Gavin Williams (2-5, 5.02) on Thursday afternoon.
