PITTSBURGH — In his 1,000th career game, Aaron Judge turned in a typical Aaron Judge performance. 

There was, of course, a home run.

There was a strong defensive play up against the right field wall.

Afterward, the Judge’s manager and teammates found themselves struggling to find new words to describe the consistent excellence displayed daily by the Yankees captain.

Manager Aaron Boone expressed, “I think he is one of the greatest players of this generation,” as he elaborated on why he believes Judge is a definite future Hall of Famer, calling him a “no-brainer.”

While Cooperstown may beckon in the future, Judge continued his remarkable performance, smashing his sixth home run (with 17 RBIs) in only the seventh game of the season — putting him on track for an incredible 139 homers.

As of the finish of the Yankees’ 9-4 win Friday, Judge had more home runs than nine teams altogether. 

In his 10-year career, Judge has 321 home runs to go with a 1.014 OPS.

Hall of Famer? 

“Got a lot of work to do,” Judge said predictably. “We’ll talk about that in a couple years.” 

Judge’s 403-foot blast to right-center field Friday put the Yankees up 9-1 in the seventh inning off lefty Tim Mayza, the former Blue Jay (and Yankee) who is better known for giving up Judge’s 61st home run in 2022. 

The more impressive feat may have been his catch in the first inning that robbed Ke’Bryan Hayes of extra bases. He got to the warning track and leapt to make the snag before tumbling into the wall, and while it gave slight flashbacks of Dodger Stadium in 2023, Judge was no worse for wear this time. 

“Definitely a tense little moment there,” Boone said. 

“We’re good,” Judge said. “That’s just a bad read on me. They got a bigger warning track, so I thought I was right by the wall. I gotta make that look a little more graceful next time.” 

Still, his teammates were left impressed, as usual. 

“It definitely helps when that’s an F9 instead of a double,” said Max Fried, who was on the mound. “It’s incredible. Game in and game out, what he’s able to do, be able to change a game with one swing at any moment, and on top of that, making some really, really nice plays, too, in the outfield. I’m really happy that I’m on his team now. 

“The great ones do it day in and day out, and the consistency’s there. To see what he does and the work he puts in, it makes sense.”