Sept. 11 remembered on an emotional night at Citi
Judge steps up, saves day when Yanks need him most with clutch 8th-inning homer
“U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A,” the sellout crowd at Citi Field roared.
The ceremony, remembering the Sept. 11, 2001, World Trade Center attacks 20 years to the day, had yet to get underway, but Mets and Yankees fans were ready for an emotional half hour of looking back at that tragic day, saluting and honoring those who lost their lives or aided someone in need.
The stadium was almost completely full at 7 p.m., when the festivities began. A 9/11 banner was draped across the mound and an American flag was shown on the big screen beyond center field, leading to more chants of “U-S-A.” Fans held up different signs looking back on the day. One lifted up a blue Mike Piazza jersey. Another held a sign that read “United We Stand,” with the number 31 — Piazza’s number — underneath it. American flags were everyone — in the stands and on the field being held up by first responders.
“This was more than just a baseball game tonight,” Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge said.
Perhaps the most touching moment came when different groups of first responders representing the FDNY, NYPD, Port Authority Police Department, Department of Sanitation and Department of Corrections were introduced along the outfield fence from leftcenter to right-center field, accompanied by different members of the 2001 Mets. At that point both current Mets and Yankees teams, who had been standing in their respective dugouts wearing hats of first responder agencies, walked onto the infield and lined up on each line amongst one another and shook hands as “one unified New York,” public address announcer Marysol Castro said.
“It really is such a special thing to have both New York teams playing against each other this year,” Mets first baseman Pete Alonso said before the game. “This is a truly special event, not just for New York, but for our country.”
THE YANKEES needed a hero more than Lois Lane on her worst day. They were at the crossroads of reeling and rotting, performing as if simply playing the game of baseball were their kryptonite. They were closing in on an eighth straight loss, about to fall out of a playoff spot for the first time in four weeks, feeling that horrible sensation like you just might never win another game.
They had squandered a fiverun lead as their offense went dead and their pitching drip, drip, dripped runs to the Mets. They needed someone to step up and be, well, super.
Cue, Aaron Judge. He hit two homers, including a two-run shot to tie the score in the eighth inning — as big a hit as the Yankees have had in two weeks of misery. He then earned a save of his own with a sprawling catch to begin the ninth inning to assist a teetering Aroldis Chapman gain the official save in what became a desperately needed 8-7 Subway Series victory Saturday at Citi Field.
“A special night for a great player,” Aaron Boone said of his fellow Aaron.
It was just a special night overall, as New York baseball commemorated the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. In a symbolic moment, Yankees and Mets shook hands and hugged in the pregame, then rather than each team taking a baseline, they mixed for the national anthem.
They then entertained the 43,000-plus with a tense, dramatic, back-and-forth game that Judge, among others, might have helped win beginning the previous evening.
Following a 10-3 humiliation Friday night against the Mets and a seventh straight loss, a few players including Judge called a meeting and foremost on the slugger’s mind was to tell his teammates, “We are the New York Yankees. It is an honor and privilege to wear these pinstripes and play for this team.” He conveyed that the grind from spring training forward was about getting to now with a chance to get into the playoffs, that now was the fun time and to “go have some magic happen.”
And, poof, for the first time since they won their 13th straight on Aug. 27, the Yanks assembled a five-run lead in the second inning via homers by Kyle Higashioka, Brett Gardner and Judge. They had only topped five runs once in the previous 10 games. But these are the 2021 Yankees. Nothing easy.
Following Judge’s first homer, the Yanks went hitless in their next 16 at-bats, coinciding with the Mets generating seven runs. The scoreboard already showed that Toronto had rallied in the final inning of both ends of a doubleheader to beat Baltimore. A Yankees loss would drop them into fourth in the AL East and out of a wild-card spot.
But Gardner ended the Yankees’ hitless streak by leading off the eighth with a single. Trevor May then tried to deceive Judge with a 1-0 changeup. The Yankees’ best player responded with a high, arcing drive to left field for his 32nd homer. That tied the score. The Yankees would produce the go-ahead run later in the inning on a Javier Baez throwing error.
Still, the shaky Chapman would have to protect a one-run lead in the ninth, which Baez opened with a sinking liner to right that Judge raced forward and with a lunge turned into an out. Who knows what follows if that were a hit, but J.D. Davis followed with a double before Chapman settled down to protect the lead.
“[Judge] can impact a game in so many ways,” Corey Kluber said.
Kluber is part of a Yankees pitching staff that for a variety of reasons — injury, persistent highstress usage — that has been faltering. Kluber has made three starts off the injured list and lasted 11 2/3 innings in total (four on Saturday) and permitted 11 runs. It marked the eighth time in 12 games that the Yankees had a starter last fewer than five innings — and fifth of four or fewer. It was central to them losing 11 of 13.
Now, Kluber was out of the game, the Mets were ahead and — on the subject of short starts — Andrew Heaney was perhaps the leading candidate to start Sunday’s game. It brought greater desperation to the Yankee situation, elevated the need for heroics. Again, cue, Judge. “I don’t think I really have words” Kluber said of trying to describe Judge’s impact on the win.
The Yanks, tied at 79-63 with the Blue Jays, needed someone to rise. Fittingly, it was Judge.