Ottawa Citizen

Yankees prove they’re still sultans of swat

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Even though the opposition was celebratin­g right in front of them on their home field Thursday night in the Bronx, there was some notable news for the Yankees when Luke Voit set two home run records with one swing of the bat.

The brawny first baseman hit a two-run shot to straightaw­ay centre field in the second inning Thursday against Boston, giving the Yankees a major league-record 12 players with at least 10 home runs this season.

Voit’s homer was also the 246th for New York this year, breaking the franchise mark set in 2012. The Bronx Bombers ended the night with 247, including Giancarlo Stanton’s seventh career grand slam in the fourth.

The long balls weren’t enough, though, as the Red Sox clinched their third consecutiv­e AL East title with an 11-6 victory over the second-place Yankees.

New York is on pace for 262 home runs, which would be two short of the big-league record establishe­d by the 1997 Seattle Mariners.

Voit, who also hit one homer for St. Louis this season, has connected 10 times in 30 games with the Yankees since they acquired him July 28. He went 4-for-4 with two home runs Wednesday night against the Red Sox.

He joined Stanton, Aaron Judge, Didi Gregorius, Miguel Andujar, Aaron Hicks, Gleyber Torres, Gary Sanchez, Brett Gardner, Greg Bird, Neil Walker and Austin Romine as players with double-digit homers for the Yankees this year.

The other teams that had 11 players with 10 or more home runs were the Houston Astros in 2015 and 2017, the 2016 Minnesota Twins and the 2004 Detroit Tigers.

“Everyone was talking about it,” Voit said. “No one else could say they did that. So it’s an accolade you can take forever, so it’s pretty cool.”

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