Aaron Judge hits 50th home run but Yankees lose to Angels

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Aaron Judge reached the 50-homer mark for the second time in six seasons Monday night.

And the outfielder would be the first to say it mattered little to him because it came in a loss.

With Frankie Montas struggling again and the offense, aside from Judge, doing the same for the fourth straight game, the Yankees fell to the Angels, 4-3, in front of a sellout crowd of 44,537 at Angel Stadium.

Judge, who hit his 49th homer Friday night in Oakland, destroyed a curveball from Ryan Tepera, sending a drive into the rockpile in centerfield with two outs in the eighth inning. He became the 10th player in MLB history (and third Yankee) to twice reach the 50-homer plateau.

The 434-foot blast, which came off Judge’s bat at 111 mph, pulled the Yankees within 4-3. After pinch hitter Josh Donaldson singled with two outs in the ninth against righty Jimmy Herget, Oswaldo Cabrera hit a 385-foot drive to right-center that he briefly thought was gone, but Mike Trout made a running catch on the warning track.

 “I mean, it’s 50 and it’s August,'' Aaron Boone said. "It’s hard to wrap your mind around it, just how incredible a season he’s had to this point. The one time they pitch to him tonight, he hits it off the rocks. It’s really special what he’s doing.” 

Judge wasn't quite as upbeat about it. “Just another number,’’ he said. “Wish we could have come away with the win . . . It’s great, but I’m kind of upset about the loss. A close game we could have won.”

He added: “I’m not downplaying it, I just don’t like talking numbers. It doesn’t mean anything because we lost. We can talk about numbers and all that kind of stuff when the season’s over with, we can review it, but for right now, most important thing for me is getting some wins.”  

The Yankees were able to retrieve the ball. What will Judge think about when he looks at it? “I’ll be thinking about a 4-3 loss. That’s what I’ll be thinking about,'' he said. "Wish it could have been a little sweeter with the victory.”

Judge, who grounded out in his first at-bat, was intentionally walked his next two times up before Angels interim manager Phil Nevin — the Yankees’ third-base coach until he was let go after last season — allowed Tepera to pitch to him in the eighth.

Does getting only a few pitches to hit per night change Judge's approach? “It’s easier [to focus] because I know I have to lock it in from the very first pitch I see because it might be the best pitch I see,'' he said. "It’s fun. You like having that, I wouldn’t say pressure, but those expectations. That’s what it’s about, trying to lead your team, help them win. Could be on the first pitch or it could be the third pitch you see in the seventh or eighth inning. You never know.”

Judge, who has hit four home runs in the last seven games after going nine straight games without one, joined Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle as Yankees with more than one 50-homer season. Only Ruth and Roger Maris have gotten to 60. “It would be an incredible honor to be mentioned with those guys, but I can’t speak on anything that hasn’t happened yet,’’ Judge said. “I have no answer for you. It hasn’t happened yet. If it does, I’ll have a better answer for you.”

With the Yankees (78-51) playing their 129th game, Judge’s pace projects to 63, which would break Maris’ American League record of 61 set 61 years ago in 1961. Judge also hit 52, then an MLB rookie record, in 2017.

Teammate Giancarlo Stanton hit 59 homers in 2017 during his MVP season for the Marlins and now has the opportunity to watch Judge.

“It’s really cool,’’ Stanton said. “He’s having an incredible year. It’s been fun to watch. It’s going to be a fun last month to see what he can do.”

A prediction? “I’m not going to do that, but I think he’s going to do something incredible,’’ Stanton said. “He already has. We’ve got a month more to watch.”

As for the rest of the night, Montas was unimpressive for the fourth time in five starts as a Yankee. The righthander, 0-1 with a 7.32 ERA in four previous starts since his acquisition at the trade deadline, allowed four runs and eight hits — including a two-run homer by Shohei Ohtani and solo shots by Luis Rengifo and former Yankee Mike Ford — in six innings-plus. Montas has allowed five home runs in 25 2⁄3 innings in his five Yankees starts.

With runners at the corners and one out in the third, DJ LeMahieu pushed a safety-squeeze bunt to the first-base side of the mound to tie the score at 1-1.

The Yankees very briefly pulled ahead in the fourth when Anthony Rizzo hit his 29th homer, a 411-foot drive inside the rightfield foul pole that made it 2-1. But with one out in the bottom of the fourth, Ford homered to right to tie it. It was his first homer in more than a year.

With two outs in the fifth, Trout flared a bloop single to centerfield in front of Judge. Ohtani, who entered the game at 9-for-21 with three homers against Montas, reached to the outer half of the plate and golfed a 1-and-2 splitter well into the bleachers in right-center for his 29th homer and a 4-2 lead.

Said Montas,  “I feel comfortable with that splitter, but I probably should have thrown him at least a fastball. I threw him four in a row [splitters] and he’s a really good hitter, so when you throw a good hitter four of the same pitches, it’s not good.”

The Yankees have been held to six runs in their last 33 innings and have gone 11-for-102 dating to the seventh inning Friday.They are seven games ahead of the second-place Rays (six in the loss column) and four games behind the Astros in the battle for the best record in the American League.

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.