Judge Powers Yankees Into AL East Showdown

Aaron Judge’s late-season surge has the New York Yankees charging toward the top of the American League East. Less than five weeks after trailing by 6 1/2 games, New York (90-68) can reclaim sole possession of first place for the first time since July 1 when it hosts the Chicago White Sox on Thursday night.

Judge blasted his 50th and 51st home runs on Wednesday in an 8-1 victory, joining Babe Ruth, Mark McGwire, and Sammy Sosa as the only players in history with four 50-homer seasons. His three-run shot in the second inning gave the Yankees the lead, and his solo homer in the eighth capped the rout.

Judge enters Thursday leading the majors with a .328 batting average and a 1.136 OPS. He has reached base multiple times in 12 of his last 13 games, hitting .365 with 11 homers across his past 26 contests.

“I feel like over the last couple of weeks, he’s really starting to swing the bat really well again and having just excellent at-bats night in and night out, at-bat after at-bat,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.

New York’s rise has been fueled by a 21-8 stretch that began with a win over the Boston Red Sox on Aug. 24, sparking a seven-game winning streak. As recently as Sept. 16, the Yankees were five games back, but a 6-1 run paired with Toronto’s 1-6 slump has lifted them into a tie atop the division.

“It’s been a crazy 10 days, two weeks, and I think we all expected it to be this way, this final week,” Boone said. “For us, it’s about handling our business, it really is.”

The Yankees have won five of six against Chicago this year, outscoring the White Sox 38-15.

Chicago (58-100) has lost 10 of its past 11 games, including Wednesday’s defeat in which they managed just five hits. Lenyn Sosa drove in their only run with a sacrifice fly before Judge’s power display took over.

“It’s definitely a number you don’t want to get to,” pitcher Jonathan Cannon said of the team’s 100th loss. “It’s definitely easy to see this season as a failure, but I think we have a ton of building blocks, a ton of positives to take away into the offseason and look to definitely take a huge step forward next year.”

The White Sox set a modern-era record last season with 121 losses.

New York will turn to Carlos Rodón (17-9, 3.04 ERA) in Thursday’s finale. Rodón, the likely Game 2 starter in the postseason, has allowed two runs or fewer in nine consecutive starts, posting a 2.30 ERA over that span. He last pitched Saturday in Baltimore, striking out eight in seven innings of one-run ball.

Rodón, who spent seven seasons with the White Sox, is 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA in two career starts against his former team. He beat them Aug. 29 with six strong innings in Chicago.

Chicago counters with Davis Martin (7-10, 4.03 ERA), who will attempt to win back-to-back starts for the first time in his career. Martin earned a victory last Friday against San Diego, and he has no-decisions in both prior outings against the Yankees this year.