Gardner, Judge open with back-to-back jacks

NEW YORK -- After falling behind to the Angels in the top of the first, Brett Gardner and Aaron Judge quickly answered with back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the inning to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead Saturday night.
Gardner drove his second home run of the year a Statcast™-projected 403 feet into the second deck in right field at Yankee Stadium for his 12th career leadoff homer.
Moments after Gardner crossed the plate, Judge stepped up and hit the third pitch of his at-bat a projected distance of 442 feet over the Yankees' bullpen in right-center, according to Statcast™, for his 14th home run of the season.
The long ball was Judge's 70th home run in 231 games, making him the quickest player to reach 70. The record was previously held by Ryan Howard, who hit 70 in 233 games.

This was the fourth time the Yankees have gone back-to-back this season and the first since Sunday in Kansas City when Miguel Andújar and Austin Romine completed the feat. The Yankees had not hit back-to-back home runs to open up their half of the first inning since Sept. 28, 2017, when Gardner and Judge did the same.
Romine hit the Yankees' third homer of the night in the second inning -- a two-run shot -- as they built a 4-1 lead against Angels rookie Jaime Barría, who was recalled from Triple-A before the game.