Aaron Judge hit his major league-leading 31st home run to back Gerrit Cole’s first victory of the season, and the New York Yankees defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 8-1 on Sunday to salvage a split in the four-game series.
Judge’s two-run shot in the first inning gave Cole an early lead, and the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner allowed one run and struck out six over five innings.
It was Cole’s third start after missing nearly the first three months of the season with right elbow inflammation.
Judge, meanwhile, ended another strong month after getting off to a slow start to 2024.
The 32-year-old slugger was hitting .207 with six home runs and 18 RBIs at the end of April before batting .361 with 14 homers and 27 RBIs in May to earn AL Player of the Month honours.
Judge remained red-hot in June, hitting .409 with 11 home runs and 37 RBIs.
Rangers rookie Langford hits for cycle against Orioles
Texas Rangers rookie Wyatt Langford hit for the cycle in an 11-2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.
The 22-year-old Langford, selected by the Rangers with the No. 4 overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft, hit a triple in the fourth inning, doubled in the fifth, singled in the sixth and blasted a three-run homer in the eighth to complete the first cycle in the majors this season.
Langford became the 12th player in franchise history to hit for the cycle and joined Oddibe McDowell in 1985 as the only Rangers rookies to accomplish the feat.
The defending World Series champion Rangers ended a six-game losing streak and prevented the first-place Orioles from winning a fifth straight contest.
Royals right-hander Lugo beats Guardians to become first in MLB to 11 wins
Seth Lugo pitched six scoreless innings and struck out 10 to become the first 11-game winner in the major leagues as the Kansas City Royals beat the AL-leading Cleveland Guardians 6-2.
Lugo improved to 11-2 with a 2.17 ERA in 18 starts in his first season with the Royals.
The 34-year-old right-hander has already set a career high in wins after entering 2024 with a 23-17 record and 4.01 ERA in 64 lifetime starts.
Lugo spent the majority of his first seven MLB seasons as a reliever with the New York Mets before solely being a starter with the San Diego Padres last year.
Kansas City moved to 47-39 after posting the second-worst record in the majors last season at 56-106.
The Royals have not finished over .500 since winning the World Series in 2015.