Judge Feeling the Pressure, But Yankees Sweep Sox

It's hard to imagine a Yankees sweep of the Boston Red Sox would be totally forgotten, but when the presumed AL MVP is still trying to chase down history this is what happens. The Yankees swept the Red Sox with a 2-0 rain-shortened game on Sunday. The Yankees have won seven in a row, and are inching closer to the AL East crown.

Yet, Judge remains at 60 home runs. He still needs one to tie Roger Maris' franchise record for homers in a single season; two to make the record all his own.

“You can’t think along those lines,” Judge said. “It’s not our last home game, so I’m not worried about it.”

Judge's parents were in the stands last night, and the slugger believes his family will follow the club to Toronto where it opens up a series Monday night.

Even Manager Aaron Boone acknowledged the public pressure was there to get the job done in front of the Yankee faithful, but the focus is always on baseball first. “I don’t want to put any expectation on him. I feel like he’ll get there and when he does, it’ll be amazing,” Boone said. "You can’t just push buttons to have things happen. So, just proud of the way he’s handling it, and continue to be the central figure in us winning games.”

In his last five games, Judge is hitting .267 (four hits in 15 at-bats) with two runs scored, no RBI, six walks, and six strikeouts. If this season is any indication, Judge is due to hit a homer rather soon. He has gone five consecutive games without a homer four times this year before connecting on his next blast. His longest stretch without a bomb this season was nine games from August 13 to 21.

As far as the Red Sox game is concerned, Nestor Cortes got the victory, allowing only one hit over six innings with two walks and five strikeouts. The Yankees finished their season series with the Red Sox have won 13 of 19 contests.