Judge homers, Yankees use seven-run sixth to beat Jays
N.Y. YANKEES 9 TORONTO 1
NEW YORK — Aaron Judge’s home runs are becoming the thing of legend to opposing pitchers. He can beat them in other ways, too.
Judge hit an early homer off respected Twitter rival Marcus Stroman, then scored on a disputed play during a seven-run burst in the sixth inning that sent the New York Yankees over the Toronto Blue Jays 9-1 Saturday.
“He wins so many pitches over the course of the game up there. You better execute when you’re facing him or you’re in trouble,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.
Judge put the Yankees up 2-0 with his sixth homer, a two-run drive in the third that landed in the second deck in left field. It came after Stroman and Judge exchanged tweets at the end of last season during which the Toronto ace said their “future battles will be legendary.”
“I made one bad pitch. It was a 3-0 pitch to Judge that kind of leaked back over the plate. He hammered it,” Stroman said.
Cameras showed a young girl in the crowd ended up with the ball. She marvelled at the souvenir as she and her brother passed it back and forth.
Judge is now 7 for 16 with four home runs against Stroman (0-2).
“I was just excited to get two runs on the board against a tough pitcher like Stroman. A guy like that you can’t take any pitches off. You’ve just got to be ready to attack and don’t miss a pitch,” Judge said.
It was 3-1 in the sixth when the Yankees loaded the bases with no outs. Aaron Hicks hit a chopper up the first base line and Stroman made a backhanded toss to catcher Luke Maile, trying for a forceout.
The ball bounced off Maile’s glove as Judge slid in safely. Blue Jays manager John Gibbons unsuccessfully argued with plate umpire Will Little that Maile had possession.
Rookie Miguel Andujar added a three-run double and Judge capped the inning with an RBI single. Andujar has eight extrabase hits in his last five games.
“They can burn you in a heartbeat,” Gibbons said.
Montgomery (2-0) pitched six innings and allowed one run on four hits. He worked around three walks, and allowed the leadoff hitter on base in three consecutive innings.
Toronto loaded the bases in the third with one out before Montgomery was able to escape the jam with a strikeout and a popup.
“I’ve just got to be as aggressive as I can right there and not give in to anybody,” Montgomery said.
Montgomery and two relievers combined to retire the last 15 Blue Jays batters.
HOUSTON 10 CHICAGO WHITE SOX 1
CHICAGO — The Houston Astros and Josh Reddick just keep climbing. Reddick hit a grand slam and a solo homer, and the Astros pounded the reeling White Sox 10-1 on Saturday for their fifth straight win.
The White Sox were dealt another blow Saturday when they learned that reliever Danny Farquhar suffered a brain hemorrhage when he collapsed in the dugout Friday night.
Reddick and the defending World Series champions hit wild Chicago starter Lucas Giolito hard to race to a 10-0 lead after four innings. Reddick upped his home run total to six after hitting 13 all last season.
“I didn’t think I was going to have six in the first month, so this is pretty over the standard for myself,” Reddick said.