Yankees' Aaron Judge: Juan Soto's Intentional Walk 'Fueled' Historic 300th HR

New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge admitted Wednesday that the Chicago White Sox's decision to intentionally walk Juan Soto in front of him gave him added inspiration to hit his 300th career home run.

With Soto and one other teammate on base, Judge smacked a three-run shot in the eighth inning to put a bow on the Yanks' 10-2 win, and he told reporters after the game that the perceived slight of Chicago walking Soto to get to him prompted him to swing the bat in a 3-0 count.

"I was mad about the intentional walk, so that kind of fueled," Judge said. "Usually 3-0, I'll take a pitch, see a pitch, kind of pass it on to the next guy. But in that situation, if they don't want to pitch to you, you got to come through."

In addition to putting the game away for New York, Judge made history with the homer, becoming the fastest player to 300 career home runs in MLB history by hitting it in his 955th career game.

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The previous record for the fastest to 300 home runs belonged to Pittsburgh Pirates legend and Baseball Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner, who did it in 1,087 games.

Judge also became the fastest to 300 homers in terms of at-bats, doing it in his 3,431st AB. He surpassed Yankees legend Babe Ruth, who got to No. 300 in 3,831 at-bats.

The 32-year-old Judge acknowledged the enormity of getting to 300 career home runs and was happy he could reach the milestone in a winning effort.

"It's a great achievement," Judge said. "Like I said a couple days ago, I was hoping it would come in a win. It came in a big win for us. We were down for a little bit, couldn't get much going, so I was just excited it was there in a big moment."

The three-run homer gave Judge 43 home runs and 110 RBI on the season, further strengthening his case to win a second career American League MVP Award.

Kansas City Royal shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. is having a spectacular year that can't be discounted, but Judge's toughest competition for MVP may be his own teammate in Soto.

Soto smashed three home runs in the Yankees' 4-1 win over the White Sox on Tuesday, and White Sox interim manager Grady Sizemore seemed to indicate that played a role in walking Judge on Wednesday.

"It's pick your poison. I'm not trying to get to Judge. I got a base open," Sizemore said. "There's no solution or an easy way out of that jam, but Soto's definitely been the hotter of those two bats, even though Judge has been hot too."

Soto, the Yankees' other MVP candidate, has been everything the organization could have hoped for when it acquired him in a blockbuster trade with the San Diego Padres during the offseason.

He is slashing .307/.438/.615 with 34 home runs and 87 RBI, and he leads the AL with 103 runs and 102 walks.

As Sizemore mentioned, there is no ideal solution to facing Soto and Judge back-to-back in the Yankees' lineup, which is perhaps the biggest reason for New York's success this season.

With Wednesday's win, the Yankees are 72-50 on the year and lead the Baltimore Orioles by a half-game for first place in the AL East.