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Aaron Judge becomes MLB's first player this season to hit 50 homers

Aaron Judge's monster season continued with two more monster home runs on Sunday afternoon, giving him a major league-leading 51. And it's still only August.

During Sunday's 10-3 win over the Colorado Rockies, the New York Yankees' All-Star slugger became just the fifth player in baseball history to post at least three 50-homer seasons in his career, joining Babe Ruth, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Alex Rodriguez.

Judge hit that milestone homer in the bottom of the first inning against Rockies left-hander Austin Gomber, blasting an 0-2 changeup 431 feet into the bullpen in left-center field to give New York a 2-1 lead.

Then, in the seventh inning, he hit No. 51 in the middle of three consecutive Yankee home runs off Rockies reliever Jeff Criswell to put New York up 7-3.

Entering Saturday, the red-hot Judge was the first player in MLB history to post at least a .375 average and 45 homers over a 100-game single season span.

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Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, right, celebrates with teammate Juan Soto after hitting his 50th homer of the season on Sunday at Yankee Stadium.
Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, right, celebrates with teammate Juan Soto after hitting his 50th homer of the season on Sunday at Yankee Stadium.

He continued his sizzling streak with two more tape-measure shots on Sunday, putting him on pace for 63 this season, which would break the American League record of 62 home runs he set in 2022.

In addition, Judge has now become the first player in MLB history to have at least 50 homers, 120 RBI and 100 walks before September.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Aaron Judge hits two homers Sunday to put him on record-breaking pace