By Larry Fleisher / Associated Press
NEW YORK — Aaron Judge hit his major league-leading 43rd home run, Jose Trevino had his first multihomer game and the New York Yankees beat the Seattle Mariners 7-2 Monday night in a series opener between teams bulking up for the postseason.
Anthony Rizzo started the onslaught with a three-run homer in the first, and New York clinched its 31st consecutive winning record at home (41-13), second only to its big league standard of 47 in row from 1918-64. The Yankees are 70-34, the first team to reach 70 wins this year.
Before the game, the Yankees acquired starter Frankie Montas and reliever Lou Trivino from Oakland, three days after Seattle obtained Luis Castillo, perhaps the best available starter on the trade market. Castillo is lined up to start the series finale on Wednesday against Yankees ace Gerrit Cole.
“Just a dominant starter, been a dominant starter for quite a while now,” Judge said of Montas. “He’s got some ridiculous stuff and just happy that we don’t have to face that down the road again.”
Rizzo put the Yankees ahead in the first with a three-run homer off Marco Gonzales (6-11). The drive over the Yankees’ bullpen in right was Rizzo’s fourth homer in six games and raised his season total to 26 along with 65 RBI.
“It’s a really good hitter that’s finding a little groove,” manager Aaron Boone said. “He’s been working hard on kind of finding that sweet spot.”
After Kyle Lewis’ solo homer in the second against Domingo Germán (1-1), Judge hit a two-run drive in the bottom half. Judge also leads the majors with 93 RBI.
Trevino homered in the fourth and added a drive into Monument Park in the eighth against Ryan Borucki. The first-time All-Star has his nine homers this year, matching his total in four previous big league seasons, and set a career high with 32 RBI.
Seattle has lost seven of 11 since heading into the All-Star break on a 14-game winning streak.
Adam Frazier hit a run-scoring single in the fourth off Germán, who won for the first time in three starts since coming off the injured list. He allowed two runs and six hits in five innings with three walks and a strikeout.
With Alex Rodriguez seated behind home plate, Judge hit a 420-foot drive, sending a first-pitch 87.4 mph fastball into the visiting bullpen in left field, after doubling on the first pitch he saw ahead of Rizzo’s homer.
“It’s fun watching what he’s doing right now,” Boone said. “So I think obviously that was part of his game plan tonight, being aggressive. Got what he was looking for in the first couple of at-bats and put great swings on it.”
Judge is on pace for 67 homers, six more than the Yankees record set by Roger Maris in 1961. Judge reached 43 homers in his 101st game and New York’s 104th game while Maris hit his 43rd in his 114th game and the Yankees’ 115th on Aug. 12, 1961.
He joined Barry Bonds (2001), Mark McGwire (1998) and Babe Ruth (1921) as the fourth player to hit at least 43 homers in his team’s first 104 games.
“Aaron Judge is having a monster season and you have to be really fine and execute on the edges with your fastball, and we weren’t able to do that,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said.
Eligible for free agency after the World Series, Judge has 10 homers in 12 games since the All-Star break ad 13 in his last 16 games.
Ron Marinaccio, Aroldis Chapman, Jonathan Loáisiga and Wandy Peralta combined for one-hit, scoreless relief.
Gonzales allowed six runs for the first time since giving up seven on July 3 last year at Texas. He yielded nine hits in 5.1 innings and for the second time in three starts matched his career high of three homers allowed.
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