Aaron Judge home runs: How to watch Yankees-Red Sox, live stream, TV channel as chase for HR No. 61 continues
Aaron Judge continues his pursuit of home run history Thursday night when the Yankees host the Red Sox. Judge hit three homers in two games on Sunday and Tuesday — the Yankees had Monday off — to get to 60 in the season. His next smash, No. 61, will tie him with Roger Maris for the most in American League and Yankees history in a single season.
Judge hit at number 60 in the ninth inning Tuesday night, and the homer to left centerfield sparked a wild Yankees comeback against Pittsburgh release Wil Crowe. Judge is now one of only six players with a 60-homer season in MLB and has moved up to eighth in a single season with Babe Ruth. Judge played well on Wednesday, despite not hitting a long ball, going 2 for 4 with two doubles while scoring two runs. He came on the plate for a fifth try on a home run in the eighth inning of a blowout win but was led to four pitches.
Can Judge move up the leaderboard and catch (and possibly overtake) Roger Maris on Thursday night? Here’s what you need to know about the game.
Yankees vs. Red Sox streaming info
time: 7:15 p.m. ET | date: Thursday 22 September
location: Yankee Stadium, New York
TV channel: Fox
Live broadcast: fuboTV (try for free), MLB.tv
Featured Game | New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox
MLB home run leaderboards
Judge goes into Wednesday’s game eighth on the MLB single-season home runs list and second on the American League single-season home runs list. Just look:
Most year-long home runs, MLB
1. Barry Bonds, 73, 2001
2. Mark McGwire, 70, 1998
3. Sammy Sosa, 66, 1998
4. Mark McGwire, 65, 1999
5. Sammy Sosa, 64, 2001
6. Sammy Sosa, 63, 1999
7.Roger Maris, 61, 1961
T8. Aaron Richter, 60, 2022
T8. Babe Ruth, 60, 1927
Most home runs in a season, American League
1.Roger Maris, 61, 1961
T2. Aaron Richter, 60, 2022
T2. Babe Ruth, 60, 1927
T4. Hank Greenberg, 58, 1938
T4. Jimmie Foxx, 58, 1932
6. Alex Rodríguez, 57, 2002
scouting report
The Red Sox are sending veteran right-hander Michael Wacha to the mound to start Thursday. Wacha, 31, is in the midst of a career renaissance. After seven years with the Cardinals, 2013-19, he endured tough seasons with the Mets and Rays before signing with the Red Sox in 2022. In 20 starts this season, he’s 11-1 with a 2.61 ERA (160 ERA+), 1.03 WHIP and 92 strikeouts in 114 innings.
As can be seen in this stat line, Wacha isn’t a high-volume strikeout type, so the chances of Judge getting the ball in play multiple times are pretty good.
Wacha has been good at keeping the ball in the yard this season. He has given up 11 home runs, which is .9 per nine innings versus a league average of 1.1 HR/9.
Although Wacha is much better at home (1.72 ERA at Fenway Park), Wacha isn’t bad on the road, having served to a 3.36 ERA with six homers allowed in 61 2/3 road innings. He threw seven scoreless innings against the Yankees in their only previous matchup that year, although that took place at Fenway. He had great success at Yankee Stadium last season (.71 ERA in 12 2/3 innings).
Now for the big snack, something that will surely be highlighted at great expense on the show: Richter is 0 for 14 with nine career strikeouts against Wacha.
This isn’t a predictive stat, and it’s still a tiny sample, but sometimes head-to-head data can be an indicator that a matchup suits either the pitcher or the hitter. Sure, we can throw away the three at-bats from 2017, but the other 11 were either last year or this year.
Also, Wacha is averaging about 5 2/3 innings per start, so the Red Sox’s bullpen will play a role at some point, too. Judge had some hits against notable members of the bullpen, such as Matt Barnes (2 for 7, HR), Ryan Brasier (3 for 7, HR), and Kaleb Ort (1 for 2, HR).