99 for 99! Judge 1 RBI shy of 100 after pair of homers

PHILADELPHIA -- Aaron Judge raised his right arm and offered his customary captain’s salute to the bullpen crew as he approached second base, jogging once again after his second home run of the night. Not a bad way for No. 99 to collect his 99th RBI.

Judge belted long homers in the first and seventh innings, extending his Major League lead to 39 long balls as the Yankees hammered Phillies All-Star Zack Wheeler early, rolling to a 14-4 rout on Monday evening at Citizens Bank Park.

“Especially the first one he hit today, I was like, ‘Man, this is crazy to see,’” said Jazz Chisholm Jr., who also homered twice, including a ninth-inning blast using Judge’s bat. “Seeing him do what he does, the way he goes about it, it’s my first time seeing a player work like him up close in-person every day. It’s really great.”

Yes, there may be enough thunder in the maple grain of Judge’s 35-inch, 33-ounce Chandler bat for two players. Set to face catcher Garrett Stubbs with a lopsided ninth-inning score, Chisholm said that he’d never had much success facing position players.

He entertained batting right-handed against Stubbs before Judge gave him the OK to take his game bat up to home plate.

“That was all him. He was holding it, taking some practice swings and looked at me,” Judge said. “He said, ‘Hey, you mind?’ I said, ‘Go for it, but make sure you use it.’ And he definitely did.”

Judge joked that he should be credited with a half-homer for lending his bat.

“Yeah, he can get a half, but I’ve got to get a full one still,” Chisholm said. “I’m definitely not going to use that again. That bat was so heavy.”

Ben Rice also went deep as the suddenly hot Yankees have scored 40 runs across their past four games, coming off a series victory this past weekend at Boston’s Fenway Park.

“This team stayed true. We’ve been hit on the chin a couple of times this year,” Judge said. “But this team didn’t get locked down. We’re locked and loaded, and ready to go.”

It was more than enough support for right-hander Luis Gil, who held Philadelphia to three runs on five hits over 5 1/3 innings, twirling his fourth straight sharp outing since former teammate Luis Severino advised him how to better grip his slider.

“When I go out to pitch, I’m giving everything I have,” said Gil, who walked three and struck out eight. “The lineup behind me has given me so much support throughout the whole season.”

Wheeler, who entered the game with an NL-best 2.45 ERA, was hammered for seven runs in five innings. Judge cleared the left-field wall with a Statcast-projected 405-foot drive in the first inning, the captain’s third in his past four games.

“A guy like [Wheeler], you've got to try to get him early or else he's going to be out there for 110 pitches all the way into the eighth or the ninth,” Judge said. “We took some good swings early."

Judge is on pace to hit 58 home runs this season; across his last 71 games, he has tallied 33 homers and 80 RBIs.

“I told him I had 96 [RBIs] one year, and he passed that in July,” said manager Aaron Boone. “It’s amazing what he’s doing in this hitting climate. You add what he and Juan [Soto] are doing together; I hope everyone is enjoying it.”

Chisholm, who was acquired from the Marlins on Saturday in exchange for three Minor Leaguers and made his first professional start at third base on Monday, went opposite-field to clear the left-field wall in the second inning.

Rice later launched a drive to right-center field in that frame. Austin Wells followed Soto’s two-run double in the fifth with a two-run triple, the catcher’s first big league three-base hit.

Judge cleared the fence again in the seventh with a two-run drive off Yunior Marte, enjoying his 37th career multi-homer game and his third of the season.

The homer off Marte traveled a projected 430 feet with an exit velocity of 105.4 mph, prompting many of the Yankees fans in the crowd to fill the South Philly air with chants of “M-V-P!”

“We’re trying to get there,” Judge said. “I still struck out three times tonight, so we’ve got some work to do.”