Judge hits 55th home run, Yanks beat Twins 5-4 in 12 innings
NEW YORK -- Aaron Judge hit his major league-leading 55th home run in the only blemish of Louie Varland's otherwise outstanding major league debut, Oswaldo Cabrera's single capped a two-run 12th and the New York Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins 5-4 in Wednesday's doubleheader opener.
Cabrera also threw out a runner at the plate in the 10th as the AL East leaders clinched their 30th consecutive winning season.
Judge homered for the fourth straight game, driving a changeup to left in the fourth inning and beginning New York's comeback from a 3-0 deficit. He set the Yankees record for right-handed hitters by surpassing the 54 homers hit by Alex Rodriguez in 2007.
The Yankees' season record of 61 was set by Roger Maris in 1961, one more than Babe Ruth's high of 60 in 1927.
Gleyber Torres tied it at 3 for the injury-depleted Yankees with a two-run homer in the sixth off Griffin Jax.
After Gilberto Celestino's RBI single off Ron Marinaccio gave Minnesota a 4-3 lead in the 12th, rookie Greg Weissert (3-0) escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam when Carlos Correa popped up and Jose Miranda flied out.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit a run-scoring single off Trevor Megill (3-3) leading off the bottom half to score the automatic runner. Kiner-Falefa stole second with one out and Jose Trevino dumped a single into right field, then reached second in a rundown as IFK slid safely back to third.
After Oswald Peraza flied out, Cabrera came to the plate in an 0-for-25 slide. The rookie grounded an opposite-field single to left that ended a 4-hour, 3-minute opener.
New York improved to 113-39 against the Twins since 2002, including the playoffs.
In something out of spring training, nine of New York's 29 players had uniform Nos. 80 and up, with Giancarlo Stanton, Anthony Rizzo, DJ LeMahieu, Josh Donaldson, Andrew Benintendi and Matt Carpenter among those hurt or unavailable.
Estevan Florial, one of three rookies in the Yankees starting lineup, nearly won it with the ninth with a two-out grounder up the middle with a runner on third. Correa made a sliding stop on the outfield grass and the All-Star shortstop threw to first, where Luis Arraez stretched for the throw and just caught Florial, who slid headfirst.
Cabrera threw out automatic runner Celestino trying to score from second on Arraez's leadoff single to right field in the 10th. It was the fifth outfield assist for Cabrera since his debut on Aug. 17.
Judge has six homers in his last eight games and seven in his last 11. He has 114 at new Yankee Stadium, one more than Mark Teixeira's previous record for the ballpark, which opened in 2009.
Only two players have hit more homers through a team's first 136 games: the Chicago Cubs' Sammy Sosa had 58 in 1999 and San Francisco's Barry Bonds hit 57 in 2001.
Varland, a 24-year-old right-hander, gave up three hits and one walk in 5 1/3 innings with seven strikeouts. He averaged 93.9 mph with 44 fastballs, mixing in 19 changeups and 17 sliders.
About 20 family and friends were on hand.
New York is 82-54 and its streak of winning seasons is second only to the big league record of 39 set by the Yankees from 1926-64.
Minnesota, which made a season-high four errors, entered 1 1/2 games behind AL Central-leading Cleveland.
Yankees ace Gerrit Cole (10-7) was to start the second game against Joe Ryan (10-7).
Miranda, a cousin of "Hamilton" creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, hit a two-run homer inside the left-field foul pole in the first and Celestino had an RBI single in the third against Domingo Germán as the Twins built a 3-0 lead.
MOVES
Twins: Designated RHP Jake Jewell for assignment to open a roster spot for Varland.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Yankees: Rizzo went on the injured list, retroactive to Saturday, due to headaches following an epidural injection for lower back pain. Donaldson was placed on the paternity list, RHP Luke Bard was designated for assignment, INF Ronald Guzmán's contract was selected from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, RHP Deivi García was recalled from the RailRiders and INF/OF Miguel Andújar was brought up from Triple-A as the 29th man for the doubleheader.
UP NEXT
Former Yankee RHP Sonny Gray (7-4, 3.10), pushed back a day because of a sore hamstring, is to start Thursday's series finale for Minnesota. LHP Nestor Cortes (9-4, 2.68 ERA) could be activated following a groin strain to start for New York.