Aaron Judge will be getting his No. 61 home run ball back.
Judge tied Roger Maris’ Yankees and American league record on Wednesday, sending a go-ahead two-run homer in the seventh inning into the Blue Jays’ bullpen — just a few feet away from fans at the Rogers Centre, who had their gloves at the ready.
Judge’s historic smash in Toronto came against the Blue Jays’ Tim Mayza on a 3-2 pitch, traveling 394 feet.
Blue Jays bullpen coach Matt Buschmann caught the ball and sent it over to the Yankees’ bullpen, with Yankees reliever Zach Britton hanging onto it before entering the game in the bottom of the inning.
The Blue Jays crowd gave Judge a standing ovation for his feat, even though it gave the Yankees a 5-3 lead.
Judge hit his 60th homer to tie Babe Ruth on Sept. 20, but it took eight more games — his second-longest drought of the season — to tie the American League and franchise home run record.
Next step for Judge: Topping Maris’ record, which many would consider to be the legitimate single-season home run mark because of Barry Bonds’ PED ties. Bonds hit 73 homers in his record season.
Aaron Judge is also in the hunt for the American League Triple Crown. He entered Wednesday hitting .314, and had a one-point lead over Luis Arraez (.313). Xander Bogaerts is third and is hitting .310.
