Aaron Judge hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning to become the fastest player in baseball history to reach 300 career homers, helping the New York Yankees pull away for a 10-2 victory over the host Chicago White Sox on Wednesday. Judge reached the milestone in his 955th regular-season game, one day past the eighth anniversary of his major league debut. He eclipsed the mark previously set by Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner, who reached 300 homers in his 1,087th game.
Judge became the 162nd player all-time to reach 300 homers and the 17th player to reach the mark while playing for the Yankees. With New York already holding a 6-2 lead and following an intentional walk to Juan Soto, Judge lifted a 3-0 pitch from Chad Kuhl into the back of Chicago's bullpen in left field. It was Judge's major-league-leading 43rd homer this year and his eighth in 18 games.
The next batter after Judge's milestone homer, Austin Wells, lifted a solo homer off Steven Wilson for a 10-2 lead. Wells also had a two-run tiebreaking single in the seventh inning, when the Yankees scored three times off relievers Justin Anderson and Dominic Leone (0-2). Earlier in the seventh, New York's Alex Verdugo hit a tying sacrifice fly that scored Oswaldo Cabrera from second.
Verdugo added an RBI double in the eighth ahead of Judge's milestone homer. Soto went deep in the first inning, giving him four homers in four consecutive at-bats after he homered three times the previous night. The Yankees did not score again unti.