Aaron Judge hit two home runs, Juan Soto homered and drove in five runs and the host New York Yankees cruised to an 8-1 victory over the visiting Cleveland Guardians on Wednesday night.
Judge upped his major-league-leading homer total to 47 by hitting a two-run drive in the third off Cleveland rookie starter Joey Cantillo (0-3) and a solo shot in the seventh off Eli Morgan to give the Yankees an 8-0 lead.
It was Judge’s fourth multi-homer game this season and 38th of his career.
New York’s Nestor Cortes (7-10) allowed three hits in seven scoreless innings to win consecutive starts for the first time since May 17-22. The left-hander struck out four and walked none in his second straight scoreless outing.
The Yankees stopped a three-game skid thanks to Judge and Soto, who each reached three times apiece and homered in the same game for the 11th time this year.
Soto set a career high by belting his 36th homer with one out in the first inning, topping the total he produced last year for the San Diego Padres. He poked a three-run double in the fourth after the Yankees loaded the bases on two walks and an infield single.
Soto opened the scoring by driving a fastball into the netting adjacent to Monument Park in center field. He drew a walk before Judge homered to right-center in the third.
An inning later, Soto sliced a full-count offering down the left field line well out of the reach of third baseman Jose Ramirez, clearing the bases and giving New York a 7-0 lead.
In the second, Cortes allowed a leadoff single to David Fry, who was erased on a double play. Cortes gave up consecutive two-out singles to rookie Jhonkensy Noel and Andres Gimenez in the fifth before retiring Tyler Freeman on a grounder.
Cantillo allowed seven runs on six hits in four innings in his fourth career start. The left-hander struck out five and walked three.
Noel slugged a homer in the eighth off Tim Mayza, but the Guardians fell to 6-11 since Aug. 2.
–Field Level Media
