Yankees’ Judge revisits conspiracies
Aaron Judge rounded third base and rekindled a year’s worth of baseless buzzer speculation.
After hitting a solo home run that decided Saturday’s 1-0 win, Judge brought both hands to his jersey and pulled the sides together, an obvious ode to Jose Altuve’s odd behavior after the 2019 American League Championship Series.
“I noticed what he did,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said. “That was wrong. That’s my homeboy. That’s wrong. Hey, man, people can do what they want to do. He’s the biggest, baddest dude out there.”
Altuve asked teammates not to rip off his jersey when he hit the pennantwinning home run against Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman. Major League Baseball’s investigation of the Astros’ sign-stealing scheme commenced a month later. Unfounded social media rumors suggested Altuve was wearing a buzzer that alerted him to what pitch Chapman threw.
Major League Baseball investigated wearable devices during its probe and found nothing to substantiate the claim. Altuve and all other Astros involved have vehemently denied ever wearing a buzzer in 2017, 2018 or 2019.
In the immediate aftermath, Altuve said he did not want his shirt removed because he is “shy” and didn’t want “to get in trouble with my wife.” Later, shortstop Carlos Correa revealed Altuve had a tattoo on his left chest he did not want to expose. Altuve does have a tattoo of his daughter’s name on his left chest.
Judge has been one of the Astros’ harshest critics in the last year and a half.
He finished as runner-up to Altuve for American League MVP honors in 2017. Houston fans have showered him with boos throughout this series at Minute Maid Park — the Yankees’ first trip back since that 2019 ALCS loss.
“Whenever they keep the roof closed here, it’s pretty chilly, so I was just letting my team know to button up a little bit,” Judge said Saturday night with a wry smile.
“Everyone’s welcome to their own opinion.”
Bregman close to rehab assignment
Alex Bregman is nearing a minor league rehab assignment “pretty soon,” and it appears more likely it could include a trip back home.
The Class AAA Sugar Land Skeeters start a sixgame series in Albuquerque
against the Isotopes on July 15. Bregman said returning to his hometown is “looking more and more realistic every day.”
Bregman has missed 22 games since straining his left quad on June 16 against the Texas Rangers. He took pregame batting practice and infield during the just-concluded homestand while continuing to ramp up his running.
Díaz starts jaunt with Gulf Coast
Astros utilityman Aledmys Díaz departed for West Palm Beach, Fla., on Sunday to begin a minor league rehab assignment with the Gulf Coast League.
Díaz fractured his left hand on June 5 when he was hit by a pitch in Buffalo. He has missed 31 games, depriving the Astros of their most dependable bench bat.
Skeeters split with Tacoma
Jose Siri’s second-inning home run, his 11th of the season, started Sugar Land on its way to a 3-0 victory over Tacoma in the nightcap of a doubleheader Sunday at Constellation Field. Four pitchers — Austin Hansen, Kit Scheetz, Riley Ferrell and Ronel Blanco — combined on a two-hitter for the Skeeters.
The Rainiers took Game 1, scoring seven seventhinning runs, all with two out, to secure a 10-2 win. Five of the runs in the seventh were charged to Francis Martes.
Jake Meyers, who has 25 RBIs in his last 21 games, drove in both of Sugar Land’s runs in the opener with a fifth-inning double that he unsuccessfully tried to stretch into a triple.