Storied season continues with 1st playoff HR
Aaron Judge always seems to rise to the occasion — no stage too great for the 6-foot-7, 282-pound slugger, who carried these youthful and exuberant Bombers into the playoffs with a historic rookie season. So, of course, the unfazed 25-year-old Judge, who understands that the way to Monument Park is through success in October, delivered a pair of hits — including a two-run homer — in his first-career postseason game, as the Yankees advanced to the ALDS with a 8-4 victory in their wild-card matchup with the Twins on Tuesday in the Bronx.
“There’s something about him and the way he carries himself that you just feel really good when he’s around,” Joe Girardi said. “When he’s at the plate, when he’s playing defense, when he’s standing next to you, waiting for you when you come off the field. You just feel really good when he’s around, and I felt that.”
This comes as no surprise considering No. 99 homered in his first-career MLB at-bat and won his first-career Home Run Derby during the AllStar festivities in front of a nationally-televised audience. This is simply what Aaron Judge — lock for AL Rookie of the Year, and possible AL MVP as well — does.
“It’s a great team win, but we’ve got unfinished business,” said Judge, who heard “MVP!” chants from the capacity crowd.
He said he was nervous before the game, going through batting practice and player introductions, “but once the game started, it’s still the same game we’ve been playing since we were kids.”
In his first at-bat, Judge stayed right on a tough, two-strike breaking ball from Ervin Santana and served it into centerfield, putting runners on the corners and setting up Didi Gregorius’ game-tying, three-run homer.
In his third at-bat, Judge just missed a hanger from Jose Barrios early on, but he didn’t miss a second hanger, belting a screaming liner that just got over the wall in left for a two-run shot that gave the Bombers a 7-4 lead.
“That’s what it’s about, postseason baseball,” Judge, who finished with a rookie record 52 homers along with 114 RBI and a 1.049 OPS, said on Monday. “The regular season, it’s kind of like spring training is over. This is the regular season now. This is what it’s all about. This is where those numbers that are hanging in left field (at Yankee Stadium), this is where they made a name for themselves, in the postseason.”
Granted, Judge’s storybook season hasn’t come without its share of adversity. Heck, he had to win a down-to-wire spring training competition with Aaron Hicks for the starting job in right field just to make the Opening Day roster. And if he hadn’t, it would’ve been back to Triple-A Scranton.
Yet Judge rose to the occasion, coming on strong late and rebounding from his 2016 cameo in pinstripes in which he struck out 42 times in 84 at-bats while hitting .179 with four homers.
He then took the sport by storm, posting a .329-30 homer-66 RBI line at the All-Star break, while moving from the bottom of the order to the top in the process. However, his struggles returned from July 14-Aug. 31, as he hit just .179 with seven homers and 16 RBI. Some wondered if it was the Curse of the Derby. Others wondered if pitchers had finally figure dhim out.
But, most likely, it was his ailing left shoulder, which frequently had a massive ice wrap around it after games. Judge had said there was a possibility that he would receive a cortisone shot to ease the pain. Asked if that did indeed occur prior to Tuesday’s game, Brian Cashman responded, “I wouldn’t say.”
Given that Judge returned to form in September, hitting .311 with 15 homers and 32 RBI, while crushing hittable pitches rather than fouling them back to the screen, it certainly makes sense. And Judge carried that success with him into Tuesday, performing like a superstar in the playoffs, as the Bombers won their first postseason game since 2012. As if anyone expected anything less.