Identical twins
Judge, young Yanks knot to be denied in rally to even series
Baby Bombers Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez teamed up Tuesday to deliver when their team needed them, overcoming poor postseason starts.
THEY represent the type of visual that makes sports teams salivate. That will generate countless OldTimers’ Day ovations down the road. History in real time:
Aaron Judge smoking an eighthinning double off the left-field wall. Standing at second base like a man on fire, pointing with both arms to his teammates and issuing the signature Yankees thumb down. Tie game.
Two batters later, Gary Sanchez ripping a double to the right-center field gap. Virtually repeating Judge’s routine. Yankees lead.
This new Yankee Stadium, almost nine years old, shaking like it never has before.
Yankees win. Yankees tied in this ALCS. New Yankees legends in the making?
Judge and Sanchez will need to do a lot more to reach that high bar. Nevertheless, the offensive pillars of this ahead-of-schedule Yankees reboot came through the most in their team’s biggest contest of the season. They teamed to drive in five of the Yankees’ six runs as the home team roared back late to overcome the Astros, 6-4 in Game 4, and knot this series, 2-2.
“It’s pretty surreal, to be honest,” Judge said. “As a kid, I’ve been in that situation in my head a thousand times, through the minor leagues, all your daily batting practice, your cage work, I’m putting myself in that situation.
“But the dreams aren’t the same as reality. To be out with the crowd and the atmosphere, it was unbelievable.”
“The emotions are raw,” Sanchez said through an interpreter. “You’re standing on second base and can’t even control them.”
Judge carried a .147/.293/.353 slash line, with 21 strikeouts in 34 at-bats, into Game 4. For Sanchez, whom Joe Girardi switched from behind the plate to designated hitter so that starting pitcher Sonny Gray could pair up with backup catcher Austin Romine, it was .158/.179/.342 with 15 strikeouts in 38 atbats and an 0-for-16 (with a walk) funk.
The Yankees manager’s refusal to bench or lower these guys in the lineup spoke of his faith in the duo, and Judge began to awake from his slumber Mon- day, slamming a three-run homer as well as playing great defense to propel the Yankees to an 8-1 Game 3 win.
In the early going Tuesday, Sanchez made two more outs, and Judge’s big moment came when he ran himself into a de facto double play on Sanchez’s fourth-inning flyout. When Yuri Gurriel slammed a three-run double off David Robertson in the sixth, and when Starlin Castro’s second error enabled the Astros to expand their lead to 4-0 in the seventh, the Yankees looked at a 3-1 abyss in this best-of-seven set with Yankees-killer Dallas Keuchel taking the mound in Wednesday’s Game 5.
Then Judge started the seventh by crushing a solo homer to straightaway center field, putting the Yankees on the board. Then Sanchez followed Didi Gregorius’ triple with a sacrifice fly to right field, cutting Houston’s advantage to 4-2.
And in the eighth, the real magic happened. Judge came up with one run in and pinch-runner Jacoby Ellsbury on third base. Against tough Astros closer Ken Giles, he went down to get a 2-and2 slider and stroked the tying double.
“Giles, the arm he has, up to a hundred miles an hourplus, and great slider. I’ve got to stay on the heater,” Judge said. “I was looking for a heater up out of the zone, and then once it gets to two strikes, it’s time to battle, put something in play and trying to get the job done.”
After Gregorius’ single moved Judge to third, Gregorius ran on Giles’ 2-and-0 offering to Sanchez, a 98.6-mph fastball, and both men scored easily on Sanchez’s gapper.
“I never thought about that I was 0-for-18, or didn’t put any pressure on myself regarding that,” Sanchez said. “I kept doing my job. I got my first hit tonight, and I’m hoping that they will keep on coming to me [Wednesday].”
The Yankees are counting on the same. Chase Headley, who delivered a key pinch hit, said of his Baby Bombers teammates: “We’re not here without them.”
After understandable concern, they seem ready to go even further, don’t they?