Yankees' Aaron Judge breaks tie with Joe DiMaggio, hits 362nd career HR

BOSTON — Aaron Judge has passed another Yankees immortal on the franchise home run list.

After hitting two home runs in Thursday night’s victory over the Tigers at the Stadium to tie Joe DiMaggio for fourth on the list, Judge broke the tie with a monstrous first-inning home run at Fenway Park that completely cleared the Green Monster in left-center.

Judge, who has hit 362 career homers, crushed a 0-and-1, 92.5-mph fastball from righthander Lucas Giolito 468 feet onto Lansdowne Street, which runs parallel to the Green Monster, for his 47th homer of the season and sixth in 12 games.

It was the 1,130th game for Judge, who is in his 10th season. DiMaggio did it in 13 years and 1,736 games. Next on the list is Lou Gehrig and his 493 homers.

The blast gave Judge 19 first-inning home runs this season, setting a single-season record for first-inning homers. Judge, who also homered in the first inning Thursday night, had matched the record of 18 he set in 2024, one he shared with Alex Rodriguez, who hit 18 first-inning shots in 2001 while with the Rangers.

Volpe sits again 

The Yankees have determined that Anthony Volpe isn’t part of the solution after all.

At least not on a daily basis for the rest of the season.

In part of his full-throated defense of the struggling third-year shortstop  on July 9, general manager Brian Cashman, offered this: “I’m not counting him out. I know he’s going to be part of the solution rather than the problem.”

But Friday made it three straight games in which Volpe did not start at shortstop, with Jose Caballero again getting the nod.

And while Thursday’s disclosure that Volpe recently received a cortisone shot for his ailing left shoulder could be deemed  the primary reason, earlier this week — before news of the injury became public — manager Aaron Boone said “we’re in day-to-day mode” when it comes to who will start at short.

And it has become clear, injured shoulder or not, the Yankees have determined that Volpe is no longer on scholarship when it comes to everyday duties at the position.

“He’s someone that we believe in, but acknowledging at the same time this isn’t the season we expected or he expected,” Cashman said on the field at Fenway Park on Friday before the Yankees started a three-game series against the Red Sox. “But that doesn’t change our viewpoint of what he’s capable of. I think he’s a really talented guy and I think he has a chance to be a positive impact on us.”

So yes, Cashman still sees Volpe as the club’s shortstop of the future.

“Yeah, I think he’s a good player,” he said. “This year notwithstanding, I think he’s got a lot of abilities that are positive . . . He’s had a tough stretch, but he’s someone that we can count on.”

Volpe — who because of the cortisone shot isn’t expected to be available this weekend except in the case of an emergency, Boone said on Friday — entered  the day hitting .206 with 19 homers and a .661 OPS (including a .268 on-base percentage). Volpe, a Gold Glove winner in his rookie  season of 2023, has regressed in the field this season, committing the second-most errors in MLB  with 19.

Volpe initially hurt the shoulder diving for a ball against the Rays on May 3, saying afterward he heard a “pop” in the shoulder. He underwent testing at the time and Boone characterized the results as “good news” at that point, though the Yankees said on Thursday it turns out Volpe has been playing with a small tear in his labrum.

Boone went the verbal circle route when asked about that before Friday’s game.

“That it was like an old injury. I mean, we always hear tear and think . . . I was told it was good news. Like it wasn’t going to interrupt any play, like he didn’t need any down time,” Boone said. “Most pitchers have a tear in there of some sort, so it was good news what we got in that he didn’t need to be shut down and it was something he was going to be able to handle.”

Cashman said it isn't “black and white” when it comes to how much of an impact the shoulder has had on Volpe, and the numbers do back that up to a degree. He was hitting .228 with a .317 OBP when the injury occurred, and in his next 34 games, he hit .270 with a .331 OBP. Since then, he has a .164 batting average with a .211 OBP in 73 games from June 15 through Tuesday, his most recent game.

“I don’t know if anybody has a real answer to it,” Cashman said. “He acknowledges there’s been struggles, you acknowledge that there’s been struggles, you acknowledge that he dealt with something and then got past it and there wasn’t any complaints in between. But he’s a hard-nosed player, he’s constantly diving all over the place and then more recently raised his hand and said this is bothering me again, so we had to look at it and now attend to it. How much in between that’s affected, if at all, I don’t know. Obviously, we’re giving him the treatment he needs and the testing that’s required and we’ll game-plan after that.”

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.