Judge sets rookie MLB home-run record

Sep 26, 2017 - 6:27 AM New York Yankees Major League Baseball (MLB) rookie Aaron Judge has hit his 49th and 50th home runs of the season in their 11-3 defeat of the Kansas City Royals.

Judge, 25, smashed his first homer of the game 389 feet in the third before striking another 408 feet in the seventh.

He surpassed Mark McGwire's major league record - set in 1987 - for home runs scored by a rookie as the Yankees dominated the contest, scoring eight in their final three innings.

Fortunes were mixed elsewhere in the Big Apple, where the Mets split a double-header against the Atlanta Braves. The visitors took the first game 9-2, but batter Travis d'Arnaud hit his side's 219th homer of the season in the eighth as the Mets edged the second game 3-2.

The Houston Astros scored eight runs in the fourth inning to put the Texas Rangers at risk of elimination from the post-season race.

Marwin Gonzalez had two hits and scored twice in the fourth, as well as scoring a homer in the sixth, to leave his Houston side two games behind American League champions Cleveland after wrapping up an 11-2 win.

The Chicago Cubs also hit double figures with a 10-2 win over the St Louis Cardinals. Addison Russell hit a three-run double in the first, then dived into the stands chasing a ball and spilling a tray of chips held by a fan. Fortunately for the supporter, Russell returned to the field a few innings later with a replacement tray of food.

The Boston Red Sox hit four but the Toronto Blue Jays struck six to take the win, the Washington Nationals beat the Philadelphia Phillies 3-1, while the Chicago White Sox overcame the LA Angels 4-2.

The Miami Marlins edged the Colorado Rockies 5-4, the Seattle Mariners won 7-1 against the Oakland Athletics, the San Francisco Giants put the Arizona Diamondbacks to the sword 9-2 and the LA Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres 9-3.

Source: AAP