BALTIMORE — Giancarlo Stanton became the sixth player to hit his 450th career home run in a New York Yankees uniform in Saturday’s 6-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.
Alex Rodriguez (2006), Gary Sheffield (2006), Mickey Mantle (1964), Lou Gehrig (1937) and Babe Ruth (1928) also achieved the feat with the Yankees. Stanton is the 41st player in MLB history to reach 450; it’s the most home runs among active hitters.
With the win, New York closed within two games of first place in the AL East behind Toronto, which lost to Kansas City. Both the Yankees and Blue Jays have seven games left, and Toronto holds the tiebreaker.
Stanton put New York up 3-0 in the first inning while costar Aaron Judge went deep leading off the third. Both drives came off Tomoyuki Sugano (10-9), who threw 87 pitches over three stressful innings before being lifted.
Staked to an early lead, Carlos Rodon (17-9) had little difficulty reaching a career high in wins. The 32-year-old lefty gave up one run and four hits in seven innings, walking one and striking out eight.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
