Judge stuck on 61 as Yankees blast Orioles
The numbers were aligned for Aaron Judge. The pitches were not.
Judge remained at 61 home runs on the 61st anniversary of Roger Maris’ 61st — he even came to the plate at the exact time Maris went deep.
Just eight of 25 Baltimore’s pitches to Judge were strikes. He walked twice and was hit by a pitch on an 0-for-2 afternoon, sparking a three-run first and a four-run seventh in the New York Yankees’ 8-0 rout of the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday.
“We know we got to capitalize on that. Otherwise, they’re going to keep on doing it,” said Giancarlo Stanton, whose 447-foot drive into the left-field bleachers capped the first. “I think they will either way, but it’s a good extra punch when we do capitalize.”
Judge was grazed on the left arm by a cutter from Austin Voth (5-4) leading off the first, walked in the second and struck out on a full-count curveball in the fourth — at 2:43 p.m., 61 years to the minute when Maris hit his 61st off Boston’s Tracy Stallard across the street at old Yankee Stadium on Oct. 1, 1961.
Against Spenser Watkins, he walked starting in the seventh and struck out on a changeup in the eighth.
“That’s probably a little bit weird for every pitcher,” Boone said. “You’re striking that balance between ‘I want to attack him,’ but ‘It’s the best hitter in the world.’ ”
Fans in the crowd of 45,428 booed every ball and chanted profanely at Orioles pitchers.
“It was pretty loud. Of course I heard it,” Watkins said. “It’s just Yankees fans.”
Judge is in contention to become the first Triple Crown winner in a decade. He leads in RBIs with 130 and at .313 is second in batting to Minnesota’s
Luis Arraez, and also is tops with 110 walks.
AL East champion New York (97-60) has five games remaining: Sunday’s rain-threatened home finale followed by a four-game series at Texas.
“There’s no bigger stage and there’s no tougher place to do it,” Stanton said. “He’s at the top of the top and he’s made it look easy.”
Nestor Cortes (12-4) matched his career high with 12 strikeouts, pitching one-hit ball for 7 1⁄3 innings and walking two. Jorge Mateo singled inches over the outstretched glove of leaping shortstop Oswald Peraza with two outs in the fifth.
Cortes got 19 swings and misses among 93 pitches. He lowered his ERA to 2.48 and would be seventh in the AL except he is 3 2⁄3 innings shy of qualifying. He got a standing ovation when he walked back to the dugout after his last pitch and tipped his cap to fans.
Blue Jays 10, Red Sox A 0: Teoscar Hernández homered, doubled twice and singled, Danny Jansen drove in five runs and host Toronto moved one step closer to wrapping up the top spot in the AL wildcard race by routing Boston.
Mariners 5, Athletics A 1: Luis Castillo struck out eight in six innings of two-hit ball and host Seattle beat Oakland to keep pace with Toronto in its bid to host an AL wildcard series. Castillo retired 16 in a row to help Seattle to its fourth consecutive win, after two straight mediocre starts in which he gave up nine earned runs. The right-hander settled down after giving up two quick hits and a walk in the first inning to fall behind 1-0 — about 12 hours after most Mariners left the ballpark after clinching the club’s first playoff appearance in 21 years.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Nationals 13, Phillies A 4: The bid by interim manager Rob Thomson and Philadelphia to end the club’s 11-year playoff drought was hurt by a loss at Washington in the opener of a day-night doubleheader. The Game 1 loss for the fading Phillies was their sixth defeat in their past seven outings.
Cubs 2, Reds 1: Seiya A Suzuki hit a tiebreaking solo homer in the seventh inning, and host Chicago won its sixth in a row by topping Cincinnati. Cincinnati dropped its fifth straight game and 18th in its past 22 overall.