Aaron Judge, Juan Soto power Yankees to rout of Guardians

Aaron Judge hit two home runs, Juan Soto homered and drove in five runs and the host New York Yankees cruised to an 8-1 victory over the visiting Cleveland Guardians on Wednesday night.

Judge upped his major-league-leading homer total to 47 by hitting a two-run drive in the third off Cleveland rookie starter Joey Cantillo (0-3) and a solo shot in the seventh off Eli Morgan to give the Yankees an 8-0 lead.

It was Judge's fourth multi-homer game this season and 38th of his career.

New York's Nestor Cortes (7-10) allowed four hits in seven scoreless innings to win consecutive starts for the first time since May 17-22. The left-hander struck out four and walked none in his second straight scoreless outing.

The Yankees stopped a three-game skid thanks to Judge and Soto, who each reached three times apiece and homered in the same game for the 11th time this year.

Soto set a career high by belting his 36th homer with one out in the first inning, topping the total he produced last year for the San Diego Padres. He poked a three-run double in the fourth after the Yankees loaded the bases on two walks and an infield single.

Soto opened the scoring by driving a fastball into the netting adjacent to Monument Park in center field. He drew a walk before Judge homered to right-center in the third.

An inning later, Soro sliced a full-count offering down the left field line well out of the reach of third baseman Jose Ramirez, clearing the bases and giving New York a 7-0 lead.

In the second, Cortes allowed a leadoff single to David Fry, who was erased on a double play. Cortes gave up consecutive two-out singles to rookie Jhonkensy Noel and Andres Gimenez in the fifth before retiring Tyler Freeman on a grounder.

Cantillo allowed seven runs on six hits in four innings in his fourth career start. The left-hander struck out five and walked three.

Noel slugged a homer in the eighth off Tim Mayza, but the Guardians fell to 6-11 since Aug. 2.

--Field Level Media