JUDGE MEETS MATCH!
With game on line, O’s Brach blows Aaron away
BALTIMORE — Aaron Judge couldn’t do it alone on Memorial Day. Judge brought the Yankees within one with a 431-foot solo blast off Dylan Bundy in the seventh — his MLB-leading 17th homer of the season. But the 6-foot-7, 282-pound AL MVP candidate met his match two innings later, and the Bombers fell to the Orioles 3-2 at the House of Horrors otherwise known as Camden Yards.
Baltimore’s usual setup man Brad Brach, filling in for injured superstar closer Zach Britton, set Judge down swinging for the second out of the ninth by painting fastballs at 97, 96 and 96 mph on the outside corner. These days, it takes perfection for the opposing pitcher to stop the Yankees’ 25-yearold rookie slugger from inflicting damage. Judge had just barely missed hitting a two-run shot in his first at-bat.
“He’s one of the better hitters right now and he’s hot,” Brach said. “I knew that, but I also knew my fastball was good.”
“I’m just looking for something over the plate and trying to get on base,” Judge said. “He made three quality pitches. You have to tip your cap.”
Judge is 0-for-4 in his career against Brach with four strikeouts and a walk. Brach said he’d also K’d Judge with his slider and splitter before using his heater for strike three this time around.
“You see the highlights,” Brach said of Judge. “I’m not paying attention to every single at-bat, but when he comes in here (with the Yankees) I’ll watch video, and that’s when you really see it. It’s impressive. He’s got power to all fields and he’s off to a good start. I think the league’s kind of in that adjustment period right now. I think guys are trying to figure out a way to get him out, but he’s off to a good start, he’s making adjustments and it’s impressive to see a young guy make adjustments like that.”
Judge struck out in 42 of his 84 at-bats with the Yankees last season. But he’s gotten much better with two strikes in 2017, taking tough off-speed pitches out of the zone before eventually getting his pitch to hit. In the seventh, he let a 2-2, 83 mph changeup from Bundy go for a ball before lining a 3-2, 94 mph fastball over the wall. “Yeah,” Judge responded with a laugh when asked if he knew it was gone off the bat. “That’s all I got for you.” Judge’s ascension started in this very ballpark on April 9, when he helped then 1-4 Yankees to arguably their biggest win of the season by launching a game-tying solo homer in the eighth. He’s been on a tear ever since. In seven games against Baltimore in 2017, Judge has five homers, eight RBIs and 10 runs scored.
But the rest of the now first-place, 29-19 Yankees were mostly flat against the O’s. Jordan Montgomery labored through 4.1 innings — throwing 34 of his 100 pitches in the first — while Starlin Castro didn’t help the rookie southpaw by committing a costly error in the third. Brett Gardner was thrown out while trying to go second to third in the third on what was Trey Mancini’s first career outfield assist. Chase Headley (1-for-2, BB following two days off) is 7 for his last 59 while Chris Carter (0-for-3, 2K) is 2 for his last 28.
Memorial Day marked the first of 13 consecutive games for the Yankees against AL East opponents. They still lead the division by three, even though they can’t seem to win in Baltimore, where they’ve dropped 10 consecutive series dating back to 2014. They certainly can’t do so when Judge is the only one getting it done. And not even he could do it by himself this time around.
“We have a shot,” Joe Girardi thought when one swing from Judge would’ve tied the game. “He’s got a ton of power, that’s for sure. But Brach made some really good pitches on him.”