Aaron Judge added another dinger to his MVP season but was robbed of a clutch opportunity because of a Gleyber Torres baserunning blunder.
Judge rocked a full-count splitter from Dean Kremer over the left field wall in a 5-3 loss Tuesday night to the Orioles, giving him 56 homers with five games remaining.
The solo shot cut the deficit to 2-1 in the fourth inning, as the Yankees bats were mostly silenced by Baltimore’s staff.
The Yankees’ best opportunity occurred in the seventh inning, when Juan Soto roped an RBI single with runners on second and third.
Torres, the potential tying run leaving from second base, hesitated on third, left way too late for home when Baltimore’s catcher threw to second, and was tagged in a rundown to end the inning.
Judge was on deck.
The opportunity was lost and, ultimately, so was the game.
Their magic number for the Yankees to clinch the AL East remains 1.
“His initial thought was Juan might be out at second so he’s trying to protect him,” Yanks manager Aaron Boone said. “But it’s got to be a bluff or a sellout and go. That’s the tying run right there.”
Torres is now tied for the most outs at home plate in MLB, a stat that had Boone on the defensive.
“Do you have the context of all the outs at home plate? A handful of those are two outs, bang-bang plays,” Boone said. “One of those is an aggressive send. So it’s important to have context with that. He does make some mistakes on the bases. He’s cleaned it up from last year and year before where he’s getting himself in trouble. He’s toned it down some. Also tonight it’s a case of protecting a runner, too. But again, it’s got to be bluff or sellout and go.”
Judge, meanwhile, is now three homers below Babe Ruth’s 59 bombs in 1921 for the fourth-highest single-season total in club history. He went 1-for-3 Tuesday with a walk and a fly out to the warning track.
“There are a handful of players out there who are having tremendous seasons. And you kind of put his stuff next to theirs and he kind of dwarfs it,” Boone said. “It’s another level from some of the guys having unbelievable seasons. His ability to control the strike zone has gotten better and better over the years. And then just the power that nobody else has. It’s really impressive.”
Regardless of his otherworldly regular season, Judge is facing pressure to perform in the upcoming playoffs — two years after he set the franchise record for homers with 62 and was booed by home fans because he bombed in the ALCS against the Astros.
