It finally happened. After six agonizing games, the wait is over; Giancarlo Stanton, Gary Sanchez, and Aaron Judge all hit home runs in the same game. For Stanton, it was his first home run in Yankee Stadium while Sanchez and Judge finally hit their first home runs overall.
Stanton’s shot went 458-feet in dreary April weather. How far will he be hitting home runs in the hot air of July and August? 167th street? Perhaps. Sanchez’s home run broke an 0-17 skid while Judge hit his home run after the sun finally came out in the Bronx on a day when the weather was pretty unpredictable.
And while the big story was the big three’s home runs, credit also needs to be given to the rest of the lineup as well. Rays’ starter Blake Snell was up to 90 pitches in only 3 1/3 innings of work. The Yankees lineup will wear opposing pitches down this season and that was on full display Wednesday. They will work counts and even if the at-bat ends in an out, the pitcher will have thrown at least 5 or 6 pitches.
Back to the big guys in the lineup. Stanton now has 270 career home runs in 992 games while Judge has 57 homers in 188 career games and Sanchez has 54 in 183 career games. Combined they hit 144 home runs last season and that was with Sanchez only playing in 122 games. He missed a month early in the season thanks to a biceps strain.
So the big three finally accomplished what everyone imagined they’d do; go deep at the same time. Some fans are dreaming of this scenario happening all the time but that’s probably not a realistic goal. It definitely will happen a few more times throughout the season and when more words will be written about the magnificent feat and with good reason; this is why Yankees signed Stanton.
Photo credit: Gregory J. Fisher / USA TODAY Sports)