The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
MASHING IN MIAMI
Yankees’ Judge cruises past the competition to win Derby
The Yankees’ Aaron Judge smiles as he competes during the Home Run Derby on Monday in Miami. Judge beat the Twins’ Miguel Sano in the final round to clinch the title.
MIAMI » Aaron Judge dominated the All-Star Home Run Derby in the same manner he has smashed his way through his rookie season.
The larger-than-life New York Yankees slugger beat Minnesota’s Miguel Sano 11-10 with two minutes to spare in the final Monday night, reaching 513 feet and displaying remarkable power to all fields.
Judge, 6-foot-7 and 282 pounds, sprayed balls off the glass behind left field that supports the Marlins Park retractable roof, hit one over the Red Grooms home run sculpture in leftcenter, over the batter’s eye in straightaway center and, unusual for a derby, several to the opposite field, too. He also hit the roof near a light bank in left, 160 feet above the field. That drive didn’t count.
Hitting second each time, Judge knocked out Miami’s Justin Bour 23-22 in the first round and beat Los Angeles Dodgers rookie Cody Bellinger 13-12 in the second. Then, with lightning visible behind the huge glass door, he hit a 458-foot drive to center for the title.
Judge leads the major league with 30 home runs and some Yankees fans showed up to support him in their full dress flowing black robes and white powdered wigs. Booed initially by the crowd of 37,027, Judge earned their cheers once defending champion Giancarlo Stanton of the Marlins was eliminated in the first round.
Judge has hit the longest home run in the regular season this year in the majors 495 feet. He’s also broken a TV monitor at Yankee Stadium with a long drive and dented a door casing.
In Tuesday night’s game, he’s set to bat third for the American League.
Sano beat Kansas City’s Mike Moustakas 11-10 in the opening round, reaching 470 feet, and the Yankees’ Gary Sanchez hit 17 that included a drive off the glass measured at 483 feet.
Stanton, who got home at about 5 a.m. after a game in San Francisco, started slowly against pitcher Pat Shine, hitting three liners before a 429-foot drive to center. Stanton began to find his grove and hit a 496-foot shot off the glass behind the left-field seats, then started spraying impressive drives. He had 15 when his 30-second bonus road started but added just one more. The crowd groaned when his last fell short.
Hitting without batting gloves, Bour excited the hometown fans with 19 homers in four minutes and then added three in bonus time.