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A16 sports
Tuesday 20 sepTember 2022
62 and 700: Judge, Pujols closing in on home run milestones
By NOAH TRISTER Is it possible the Padres
AP Baseball Writer won't even make the play-
Aaron Judge and Albert offs after pulling off the
Pujols could make this a blockbuster trade for Juan
milestone week for home Soto? San Diego holds the
runs. second wild card in the Na-
Judge hit two more Sunday, tional League at the mo-
raising his season total to ment, but the Padres are
59, two shy of Roger Maris' only a half-game ahead
American League record. of Philadelphia and 2 1/2
Now the slugger returns to ahead of Milwaukee.
Yankee Stadium, where San Diego is 24-20 since
New York plays its next six the start of August for a
games. Pujols, meanwhile, .545 winning percentage
is somewhat improbably — after going 57-46 (.553)
closing in on the 700-homer before that. Soto has hit
mark after hitting 12 since only .221 since joining the
the start of August. Padres.
Judge's pursuit of Maris has San Diego did win the last
stirred debate over how to three games of a series with
put this AL record in con- Arizona, with Soto hitting his
text, should he break it. first homer this month Sun-
He's unlikely to threaten day.
Barry Bonds' major league New York Yankees' Aaron Judge hits his fifty eighth homerun during the third inning of a baseball TRIVIA TIME
record of 73, but that mark, game against the Milwaukee Brewers Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022, in Milwaukee. Associated Press Who is the most recent
as well as the exploits of player to lead the majors in
home runs by double dig-
Mark McGwire and Sam- its?
my Sosa around the same
time, have become com- LINE OF THE WEEK
While Schwarber is second
plicated by performance-
enhancing drug suspicions. in the majors in home runs
with 39, Houston's Yordan
There's one way in which
Judge likely will surpass Alvarez is second to Judge
in the AL with 37. He hom-
both Bonds and Maris, no
matter how many more ered in his first three at-bats
Friday night in the Astros'
homers he hits. Right now,
he has an incredible 5-0 victory over Oakland.
Honorable mention: In that
20-homer lead over Kyle
Schwarber, who is second same game, Justin Ver-
lander came back from the
in the majors. Nobody has
led baseball in homers by injured list for Houston and
threw five no-hit innings be-
at least 20 since Babe Ruth
finished with 54 in 1928 and fore being removed.
COMEBACK OF THE WEEK
nobody else had more
than 31. It's actually a double dose
this week.
Maris led the majors by only
seven when he hit 61, and On Tuesday night, Texas
trailed Oakland 7-2 in the
Bonds led by nine when he
hit 73. fifth inning before rallying
for an 8-7 victory. Mark
Judge is also in the mix for
the AL Triple Crown — he's Mathias homered twice,
including a solo shot in the
leading big in homers and
RBIs and just one point be- ninth to win it. The Athletics
had a 94.8% chance to win
hind batting leader Luis Ar-
raez — but that won't sort in the fifth inning, accord-
ing to Baseball Savant.
itself out until closer to the
end of the season. The next night, the script
was flipped. Oakland beat
The 42-year-old Pujols, who
is retiring at the end of the Texas 8-7 after the Rangers
were up 5-1 after four. The
season, is trying to become
the fourth major leaguer win probability for Texas
peaked at 93.2%. The A's
to reach 700 homers, fol-
lowing Bonds, Hank Aaron completed their come-
back with two runs in the
and Ruth. Unlike Judge, he
won't be going for his mile- top of the ninth, with the
go-ahead run coming in
stone at home this week.
St. Louis' next eight games on an error by shortstop
Corey Seager.
are on the road against the
Padres, Dodgers and Brew- TRIVIA ANSWER
Jose Bautista hit 54 home
ers.
CUTTING IT CLOSE runs in 2010, finishing 12
ahead of Pujols.q
