MILWAUKEE — History awaits Aaron Judge.
History now that is all but certain to be made in the Bronx.
Judge crushed his 58th and 59th home runs Sunday afternoon, in the Yankees’ 12-8 victory over the Brewers in front of 35,964 at American Family Field, leaving him two homers away from the American League and franchise record of 61 hit by Roger Maris in 1961.
It was part of a 4-for-5 afternoon that very much kept Judge, who came up in the ninth with a chance at No. 60 and merely hit a long two-run double instead, alive in the race for the AL Triple Crown. He upped his batting average to .316, a percentage point behind the Twins' Luis Arraez.
The Yankees (88-58) are off Monday before starting a six-game homestand Tuesday night at the Stadium against the pitching-deficient Pirates, with the just-as-pitching-deficient Red Sox to follow.
Judge, who also leads MLB in RBIs with 127, was involved in two sets of back-to-back home runs.
He launched his first homer with one out in the third inning, a towering 414-foot drive off righty Jason Alexander into the second deck in right that cut the Yankees’ deficit to 4-2. Anthony Rizzo (three hits), activated earlier in the day after not appearing in a game since Aug. 31 because of lower-back issues and headaches, then hit his 31st to make it 4-3).
Judge’s second blast came in the seventh on a hanging 1-and-2 slider thrown by righthander Luis Perdomo, which made it 10-4. His 443-foot shot to leftfield prompted Perdomo to throw up his arms in frustration and was so much of a no-doubter that leftfielder Christian Yelich barely moved. That immediately followed a 410-foot home run by Aaron Hicks.
Oswaldo Cabrera, who had three hits and a walk and finished a triple shy of the cycle, hit the Yankees' first homer of the day, a 420-foot shot to centerfield.
The offensive firepower to a degree overshadowed another up-and-down outing by Gerrit Cole. The righthander allowed four runs, four hits and three walks in five innings in which he struck out eight. Two of the hits were homers, making it 29 homers allowed in 182 1/3 innings by Cole, the second-most in the big leagues.
The Yankees eventually turned a 4-1 deficit into 10-4 and 12-6 leads, but the Brewers scored twice in the ninth against Clay Hollmes and had the tying run at the plate with one out before Luis Urias struck out with the bases loaded and Keston Hiura grounded out to end it.
Cole put the Yankees in a three-run deficit in the first, his troubles in the 29-pitch inning starting with a one-out walk to Willy Adames and a two-out walk to Hunter Renfroe. Kolten Wong then blasted a three-run homer.
After Cabrera homered in the second, Tyrone Taylor hammered a 0-and-2, 98-mph fastball to center for his 17th homer and a 4-1 Brewers lead in the bottom of the inning.
The Yankees surged ahead in the fifth, a four-run inning in which they sent nine to the plate. Judge worked a leadoff walk against lefty Hoby Milner, who not surprisingly pitched the outfielder carefully, and Rizzo made it a 3-for-3 afternoon with a liner to left. Righty Justin Topa came in for Torres, who flied to the track in center, which advanced both runners. Donaldson walked on five pitches and Stanton, in a 9-for-77 skid, hit a ground smash at to third that Luis Urias booted twice. He threw to second in time to get Donaldson, but Wong, the second baseman, failed to find the base, the play inexplicably at first scored as an RBI single that tied it at 4-4 (Wong was later charged with an error).
In came lefty Brent Suter to face Cabrera, who slashed a single into short right that brought in Rizzo for a 5-4 lead. Isiah Kiner-Falefa After Kiner-Falefa lined to right, Kyle Higashioka banged a two-out, two-run single back up the middle to make it 7-4. At that point, the Yankees were outhitting the Brewers, 10-3.
Cole allowed runners to reach second and third with one out in the bottom half but struck out Tellez and Renfroe both swinging at 101-mph fastballs for his seventh and eighth strikeouts.
Tellez’s two-run homer in the eighth off Clarke Schmidt made it 10-6.
After Judge’s two-run double in the ninth made it 12-6, Wandy Peralta and Clay Holmes combined to allow two runs in the bottom half that made it 12-8, with Luis Urias getting up as the tying run with the bases loaded and one out. Holmes struck out Urias and got Keston Hiura to ground to second to end it.
