2023-08-24 04:51:50
NEW YORK – If there’s a player who can carry an entire team on his shoulders, even in the midst of their worst skid in decades, it’s Aaron Judge.
With the prospect of the Yankees’ first 10-game losing streak since 1913 looming dangerously ahead of the game, the Yankees captain hit three home runs in a game for the first time in his career during the New York win 9-1 over the Nationals on Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium.
Just hours earlier, general manager Brian Cashman had admitted that although This season has been a “disaster”the Yankees still have something to play for: “What I hope is that we continue to find ways to do everything in our power to compete.”
And no one better to do just that than Judge, whom he retained in December on a $360 million, nine-year contract.
Judge, New York’s designated hitter on Wednesday, hit a home run in his first two plate appearances (a solo shot in the first inning and a grand slam in the second) and then added an unmanned one in the seventh.
“What a night in ’99,” manager Aaron Boone said. “He’s special. Obviously, what we saw him do last year, that he’s doing basically the same thing, he just missed a big part. He’s a special player. It’s extraordinary what he does in any circumstance.”
“Anyone can be a spark, but there you start at the top.”
Judge’s first home run snapped a streak of 61 consecutive innings in which the Yankees hadn’t led the score. His second of his, the fifth grand slam of his career, all but ensured that the historic losing streak would be broken as well. The third signed the 34th challenge with three homers for the same player in franchise history; he is the 25th player to do so in a Yankees uniform and the first since Anthony Rizzo on April 26, 2022.
When The Judge walked back to the dugout after his last home run, there was one person in particular he wanted to see. Catcher Kyle Higashioka had a three-homer game on September 16, 2020, and has made a habit of mocking Judge for his inability to do the same.”
“All these years, he always reminded me every game that I had two and couldn’t get the third, saying, ‘Hey, one of these days, kid, you’re going to join my club and you’re going to be in an exclusive club,'” Judge recalled with a smile. .
How did Higashioka, who rose through the Yankees’ farm system with Judge, react when his friend finally overcame the hurdle?
“I told him, ‘I remember my first time,’” Higashioka blurted out with a laugh. “But no, it was fantastic. We had been waiting for it for a long time. Rizzo and I have joked a lot with him, and now we have nothing to hold against him.
Judge has 32 career multi-homer games, the fifth-most in franchise history, trailing only legends Babe Ruth (68), Mickey Mantle (46), Lou Gehrig (43) and Joe DiMaggio (35). . Fittingly, Judge’s grand slam, which traveled a Statcast-projected distance of 437 feet through center field, landed atop the netting that protects Monument Park, where the license plates of all four former Bronx Bombers reside. .
The early grand slam also calmed the nerves of Dominican starter Luis Severino, who has struggled a lot this season but looked great on Wednesday. The right-hander allowed just one hit in 6.2 scoreless innings to win his third game of the year.
“He’s a beast,” Severino said of Judge. “You know that every time he goes out there, something good is going to happen.”
It was Judge’s fifth multi-homer game this season, and his first since he sprained the big toe on his right foot June 3 at Dodger Stadium, a moment that changed the trajectory of his season — and that of NY.
So even Judge was in the circle of cover when Jake Bauers was pulled as the last batter in the bottom of the eighth – leaving him on the brink of a fifth plate appearance and a chance to maybe send one more ball out of the park. – all the captain was thinking was how the Yankees “needed a big win”.
“Nah, I wanted to end the game,” Judge said about whether he wanted that last turn. “It would have been nice, but we were in a great position there. Sevy (Luis Severino had a great game, the guys up and down the lineup took great turns. It was time to give the ball to Wandy (Peralta) and close out the game.”
1692865124
#home #run #game