NEW YORK – What a night for MLBbros on Thursday at Yankee Stadium. Teammates Aaron Judge, Trent Grisham and Jazz Chisholm were the reasons the Yankees defeated the Diamondbacks, 9-7. The trio drove in all nine runs combined and had a home run apiece – all against right-hander Merrill Kelly. 

 

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Judge was the ringleader and added to his legacy in the first inning. With Ben Rice and Cody Bellinger on base, Judge swung at a 1-1 pitch from Kelly and hit a Judgian blast over the right center-field wall to give New York a 3-0 lead.                             

 

For Judge, it was his Major League-leading fifth homer of the season and he became the third-fastest Yankee to reach 500 extra-base hits in 999 games, which is the third fastest behind Joe DiMaggio (853) and Lou Gehrig (874). 

 

However, don’t talk to Judge about his milestone because there is a lot more he wants to accomplish. 

 

“You have to keep moving forward. I’ll look at it when I’m an old man coming to Old-Timers Day,” Judge said. “I can look back and we can joke about it and laugh about it, but there is a lot of work to be done. So, there is no time to sit.”        

 

But one can’t ignore what Judge has accomplished. Since the RBIs became an official stat in 1920, Judge is the first Major League player to hit at least five homers and record at least 15 RBIs through his club’s first six games of a season.

 

“Typical,” Grisham said about Judge.  

 

“Guys are getting on for him and [Judge] keeps performing and showing us why he is the MVP of the league and one of the best players to ever play this game,” Chisholm said. “Think of last year. He hit 58 [homers] and had a bad first month. So imagine right now what he is about to do. I’m just trying to keep up.      

 

“We all try to be like him. We tell him every day, ‘We want to be you when we grow up’ but at the same time we are out here playing a team game and we have our big brother leading us and he helps a lot.”

 

Trent Grisham Gets His Season Going 

 

Grisham and Chisholm helped quite a bit on Thursday. Four batters after Judge’s first inning blast, Grisham, known more as a defensive replacement, added to the Yankee lead when he doubled to left field, scoring Jasson Domínguez and making it a four-run game.   

 

Grisham added to the lead two innings later when clobbered a two-run homer into the right-field seats to make it a 6-1 game. 

 

“I want to try to give him more regular reps when I can,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.  “So far, we have been able to do it. In some way shape or form, he has been getting at-bats. I think he has had a great look to him all spring. … I feel his swing is at a good place, I’m trying to get him in there when I can. This is what he is capable of.”               

 

Arizona cut the lead to three runs in the top of the fourth before the Bronx Bombers did their damage in the bottom of the inning. Judge drove in his fourth run of the game with a single to center field, while Chisolm followed and hit a mammoth two-run homer to make it a 9-3 game. Chisholm also stole his 100th career stolen base.  

 

“It’s always good beating them. It’s also good to play against your old team and the old coaches. Joe Mather was my first manager in professional baseball. I still have a lot of love for him,” Chisholm said. “[Outfielder] Pavin Smith and I worked together. Alek Thomas, Geraldo Perdomo and I were in the big brother program we had over there. They are my brothers over there, but it’s always good to beat them over there.”