Thanks to Aaron Judge, Yankees’ doubleheader split in Texas one for the history books

ARLINGTON, Texas — It matters a lot that Gerrit Cole was pretty good for six innings in his last start before the playoffs except for the two-run home run that turned a Yankees lead into a deficit that held up in a 3-2 loss in Game 2 of a day-night doubleheader against the Texas Rangers.

Been there, done that.

It matters that Giancarlo Stanton hit another homer in Game 2, his third in three games while the Yankees were settling for a split that left them with 99 wins with one to play. Big G finally has some traction going after doing a pretty good righty-version of Joey Gallo for a couple months.

It also matters that the Yankees’ opponent for the Division Series has been narrowed down to two teams. It’ll be the AL Central champion Cleveland Guardians or the Tampa Bay Rays, a division rival who always plays the Yankees tough.

All of that matters yet none of it mattered on this first Tuesday in October in North Texas.

Aaron Judge was the center of the baseball universe on this cool night at Globe Life Field.

It took about two weeks longer than anyone expected, but Judge’s amazing season officially became historic when he hit the third pitch of Game 2 into the first row of the left-field seats for home run No. 62.

Roger Maris’ 61 in ‘61 was the MLB record until 1998, then the American League high-water mark until a new Yankees all-time great beat it.

After the Yankees won the opener 5-4, Judge led off the nightcap with a 391-foot homer off Rangers pitcher Jose Tinoco after being stuck on 61 for five games.

The sellout crowd of 38,832, the largest in the ballpark’s three-season history, let out a deafening roar of approval, Yankees and Rangers fans uniting to salute the American League’s new home run king.

The early led into a good game that was a decent afterparty. The Yankees pulled ahead 2-1 in the fifth when Stanton homered, then the Rangers countered with two in the bottom of the inning when leadoff hitter Sam Huff reached on a fielding error by Josh Donaldson and No. 8 hitter Leody Taveras belted a two-run homer off Cole.

That was all she wrote after Judge rewrote the record book.

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Randy Miller may be reached at rmiller@njadvancemedia.com.

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