NEW YORK — Aaron Judge became the fastest player to hit 350 home runs, reaching the mark with a two-run drive for the New York Yankees off the Chicago Cubs' Brad Keller on Saturday.
Judge hit his 35th home run of the season, a two-run blast in the ninth, but it was too little too late as the Yankees fell to the Cubs 5-2 in the Bronx.
Playing in his 1,088th game, Judge bettered Mark McGwire's record of 1,280 by nearly 200 games.
Chicago starter Matthew Boyd gave up a pair of doubles to Judge on the afternoon but kept the rest of the Yankees in check, winning the matchup of All-Star left-handers against Max Fried, who left after just three innings with another blister on his pitching hand.
A first time All-Star, Boyd (10-3) won his fourth straight start and fifth consecutive decision, giving up four hits in eight scoreless innings with six strikeouts and no walks. He threw 62 of 85 pitches for strikes.
Daniel Palencia, throwing at up to 101.1 mph, got two outs for his 11th save in 12 chances to help snap the Yankees' five-game winning streak.
Fried (11-3) allowed nine of 18 batters to reach, giving up four runs — three earned — six hits and three walks in three innings. He threw just 39 of 73 pitches for strikes.
Fried, a three-time All-Star, was on the injured list for blisters on his left index finger in 2018, '19, '21 and '23. He had been 6-0 against the Cubs.
Nico Hoerner tripled leading off the game and scored on Kyle Tucker's groundout. Carson Kelly and Ian Happ hit run-scoring singles in the third around Dansby Swanson's RBI grounder.
Kelly homered in the eighth off Jonathan Loaisiga, who has allowed a career-high seven home runs over 23⅓ innings in his return from Tommy John surgery.
Information from the Associated
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