Judge hits MLB-leading 31st home run and Cole gets 1st win of season as Yankees rout Blue Jays 8-1

TORONTO (AP) — Aaron Judge hit his major league-leading 31st home run, Gerrit Cole pitched five innings for his first win of the season and the New York Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays 8-1 on Sunday to split their four-game series.

Juan Soto was a late addition to New York’s lineup after sitting out Saturday’s loss because of a bruised right hand. The three-time All-Star and 2020 NL batting champion went 1 for 3 with an RBI and two walks.

DJ LeMahieu and Trent Grisham each had two hits and two RBIs for the Yankees. Ben Rice scored twice and drove in a run.

Judge hit .409 in June with 11 homers and 37 RBIs.

“It’s just kind of head and shoulders above anything we’re seeing,” New York manager Aaron Boone said. “What him and Juan are doing is hard to wrap your head around, especially in this hitting climate.”

Gleyber Torres went 2 for 5, his third straight multihit game since a two-game benching last week.

New York finished a 2-4 trip that started with two losses in Queens against the Mets.

Cole (1-1) started the first of those interleague defeats, allowing six earned runs in four innings. He bounced back against the Blue Jays, permitting one run and three hits — all singles.

“Another big step,” Boone said. “I thought his energy and mound presence was excellent. That was Gerrit Cole out there today.”

The reigning AL Cy Young Award winner struck out one and walked six. He threw a season-high 90 pitches, 61 for strikes, in his third start this year since returning from an elbow injury.

“I thought it was a good blend of stuff and command,” Cole said. “I pitched pretty smart for the most part. It was a good day.”

Michael Tonkin got five outs, Tim Hill retired all four batters he faced and Josh Maciejewski finished for New York.

Soto singled off Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman in the first and scored when Judge sent a 423-foot drive to center.

“That was a shot in the arm,” Boone said.

It was Judge’s fifth career homer off Gausman, his most against any opposing pitcher.

“Whenever you give a guy like Gerrit a couple of runs, it makes for a pretty good outing for him,” Judge said.

With the 288th home run of his career, Judge broke a tie with Bernie Williams for seventh place in Yankees history.

Gausman (6-7) allowed a season-worst seven earned runs and seven hits in 4 1/3 innings. He walked a season-high five and struck out seven. The right-hander has lost three of his past four starts.

“They had a good game plan against me and there was a tight strike zone, too,” Gausman said. “I don’t think that helped me at all.”

Blue Jays outfielder Kevin Kiermaier took a home run away from Alex Verdugo in the eighth, leaping above the center-field wall to make a spectacular catch.

Verdugo was called out on a two-strike pitch clock violation to end the fourth, stranding two.

ROSTER MOVES

New York selected Maciejewski’s contract from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and designated RHP Phil Bickford for assignment.

TORONTO TRADE

The Blue Jays acquired RHP Yerry Rodríguez from Texas for minor league RHP Josh Mollerus. Toronto assigned Rodríguez to Triple-A Buffalo.

TRAINER’S ROOM

New York transferred the rehab assignment of RHP JT Brubaker (elbow surgery) from the rookie-level Florida Complex League to Double-A Somerset.

UP NEXT

Yankees: Rookie RHP Luis Gil (9-3, 3.15 ERA) is scheduled to start Tuesday at home against Cincinnati RHP Graham Ashcraft (4-4, 5.45) in the opener of a three-game series.

Blue Jays: RHP Yariel Rodríguez (0-2, 5.94 ERA) starts Monday afternoon in a Canada Day matinee against Houston RHP Hunter Brown (5-5, 4.37).

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

New York Yankees' Ben Rice (93) scores on a single from teammate DJ LeMahieu during the second inning of a baseball game against the Toronto Blue Jays in Toronto, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Blue Jays' Spencer Horwitz, right, scores on a single by teammate Justin Turner during third-inning baseball game action against the New York Yankees in Toronto, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Kevin Gausman reacts as New York Yankees' Aaron Judge (99) rounds the bases after hitting a two-run home run during the first inning of a baseball game in Toronto, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Kevin Gausman (34) throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the New York Yankees in Toronto, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

New York Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole (45) throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Toronto Blue Jays in Toronto, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

New York Yankees third base DJ LeMahieu, right, and teammate Ben Rice (93) celebrate after scoring on a double by Trent Grisham during fifth-inning baseball game action against the Toronto Blue Jays in Toronto, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Blue Jays' Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is hit by a pitch during third-inning baseball game action against the New York Yankees in Toronto, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

New York Yankees' Aaron Judge is hit by a pitch during fourth-inning baseball game action against the Toronto Blue Jays in Toronto, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

New York Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole throws during second-inning baseball game action against the Toronto Blue Jays in Toronto, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

New York Yankees' Aaron Judge celebrates as he rounds the bases after his two-run home run during the first inning of a baseball game against the Toronto Blue Jays in Toronto, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hurricane Beryl roared through open waters on Tuesday as a monstrous Category 5 storm on a path that would take it near Jamaica and the Cayman Islands after earlier making landfall in the southeast Caribbean, killing at least two people.

A hurricane warning was in effect for Jamaica and a hurricane watch for Grand Cayman, Little Cayman and Cayman Brac. Beryl was forecast to start losing intensity on Tuesday but still to be near major hurricane strength when it passes near Jamaica on Wednesday, the Cayman Islands on Thursday and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula on Friday, according to the National Hurricane Center.

The center warned that Beryl was expected to bring life-threatening winds and storm surge to Jamaica, where officials warned residents in flood-prone areas to prepare for evacuation.

“I am encouraging all Jamaicans to take the hurricane as a serious threat,” Prime Minister Andrew Holness said in a public address late Monday. “It is, however, not a time to panic.”

Beryl is the earliest Category 5 storm ever to form in the Atlantic, fueled by record warm waters.

Early Tuesday, the storm was located about 300 miles (485 kilometers) southeast of Isla Beata in the Dominican Republic. It had top winds of 165 mph (270 kph) and was moving west-northwest at 22 mph (35 kph).

“Beryl remains an impressive Category 5 hurricane,” the National Hurricane Center said.

A tropical storm warning was in place for the entire southern coast of Hispaniola, an island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

As the storm barreled through the Caribbean Sea, rescue crews in the southeast Caribbean fanned out across the region to determine the extent of the damage that Hurricane Beryl inflicted after landing on Carriacou, an island in Grenada, as a Category 4 storm.

One person was reported killed in Grenada and another in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, officials said.

The fatality in Grenada occurred after a tree fell on a house, Kerryne James, minister of climate resilience, environment and renewable energy, told The Associated Press.

She said the nearby islands of Carriacou and Petit Martinique sustained the greatest damage, with water, food and baby formula a priority.

“There is no communication whatsoever," she said. “The prime minister is doing his best to get people over there to render assistance.”

An emergency team was expected to travel to Carriacou on Tuesday morning.

"The situation requires our immediate attention, and all efforts must be made to support our sister islands," said Grenadian Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell.

Meanwhile, Ralph Gonsalves, prime minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, promised to rebuild the archipelago in a statement early Tuesday. He noted that 90% of homes on Union Island were destroyed, and that “similar levels of devastation” were expected on the islands of Myreau and Canouan.

The last strong hurricane to hit the southeast Caribbean was Hurricane Ivan 20 years ago, which killed dozens of people in Grenada.

Beryl has broken several records, including marking the farthest east that a hurricane has formed in the tropical Atlantic in June, according to Philip Klotzbach, Colorado State University hurricane researcher.

The storm strengthened from a tropical depression to a major hurricane in just 42 hours, which only six other Atlantic hurricanes have done, and never before September, according to hurricane expert Sam Lillo.

Beryl is the second named storm in the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30. Earlier this month, Tropical Storm Alberto made landfall in northeast Mexico and killed four people.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted the 2024 hurricane season would be well above average, with between 17 and 25 named storms. The forecast called for as many as 13 hurricanes and four major hurricanes.

An average Atlantic hurricane season produces 14 named storms, seven of them hurricanes, and three major hurricanes.

Associated Press writer Anika Kentish in St. John, Antigua and Associated Press videographer Lucanus Ollivierre in Kingstown, St. Vincent, contributed to this report.

A fisherman looks at fishing vessels damaged by Hurricane Beryl at the Bridgetown Fisheries in Barbados, Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)

A fisherman looks at fishing vessels damaged by Hurricane Beryl at the Bridgetown Fisheries in Barbados, Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)

Fishing vessels damaged by Hurricane Beryl sit upended at the Bridgetown Fisheries in Barbados, Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)

Sylvia Small, right, waits for police approval to enter the pier to check her boat's damages due to Hurricane Beryl at the Bridgetown Fisheries in Barbados, Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)

A fisherman looks out at vessels damaged by Hurricane Beryl at the Bridgetown Fisheries in Barbados, Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)

Fisherman Hamilton Cosmos looks at vessels damaged by Hurricane Beryl at the Bridgetown Fisheries in Barbados, Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)

Fishing vessels lie damaged after Hurricane Beryl passed through the Bridgetown Fisheries in Barbados, Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)

A tree lies on the roof of a house in Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, after Hurricane Beryl on Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Lucanus Ollivierre)

Houses damaged by Hurricane Beryl in Kingstown, Srt. Vincent and the Grenadines, Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Lucanus Ollivierre)

This National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite image taken at 10:50pm EDT shows hurricane Beryl, center, as it moves across the Caribbean on Monday, July 1, 2024. Hurricane Beryl has strengthened to Category 5 status as it crossed islands in the southeastern Caribbean. (NOAA via AP)

Fishermen pull a boat damaged by Hurricane Beryl back to the dock at the Bridgetown Fisheries in Barbados, Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)