THAT’S GONNA COST YA!
Judge blasts pair of HRs to drop O’s & up his price
BALTIMORE — The Yankees will never get a bargain now. When the Bombers failed to reach a an agreement to make Aaron Judge a Yankee for life this spring, they lost their last chance to get any type of favorable deal. Tuesday night, as the MVP chants began at Camden Yards, Judge continued to increase his value on next winter’s free-agent market.
The slugger hammered two home runs among his four hits and was a triple shy of the cycle to lead the Yankees in a 5-4 victory over the Orioles.
The Yankees (27-9) have won three straight, eight of their last nine games and 20 of their last 23 games. They maintained the best record in baseball and have guaranteed at least a split of this four-game series. The Orioles (14-23) are the only team to take a series from the Yankees this season. Baltimore won two of three here at Camden Yards last month.
Maybe it’s the scheduled rest, Judge sat out Monday night’s game as part of a prescribed rest program, or the fact he is now playing for a contract after he and the Yankees failed to reach an agreement for this season or a multiyear extension to prevent him from becoming a free agent at the end of the year. Whatever the motivation, Judge is absolutely crushing it this season.
Judge hit a ridiculous double off the left-field wall in the first inning, 399 feet off the wall that was moved 26.5 feet back and raised to 13 feet. In his next at-bat, Judge went to right-center 410 feet for his major-league leading 13th homer of the season. In his next at-bat, he went to dead center for his 14th of the season.
It was the 19th time in his career Judge has hit two homers in a game, the sixth time in his career that he has done it against the Orioles and the third time this season he has done it. Two of those have come a day after Judge has been given a day off to rest.
“It’s the guys around me. That’s where it starts for me, having a great guy sitting in front of me always getting on base, guys behind me that are getting me a good pitch to hit,” Judge said this weekend about his run. “They don’t want to have (Anthony) Rizzo up there with guys on, they don’t want to have (Josh) Donaldson up there with guys on or Big G (Giancarlo Stanton) especially. So for me it’s just the guys around me.”
Judge has hit five home runs in his last seven games, 10 in his last 16. He has hit 30 career home runs against the Orioles, the most against any opponent. He was the first player in the majors to hit double-digit home runs this season and, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, the first Yankee to reach the 10-homer mark first in a season since Alex Rodriguez in 2007.
Tuesday night, he also doubled in the seventh.
Of his 41 hits this season, 21 have gone for extra bases. He has had multiple hits in four of his last seven games and 13 total games this season.
Jameson Taillon went five innings, allowing three earned runs on six hits. He struck out two and walked one in his third start against the Orioles this season. He got five swings and misses against his four-seam fastball and three on his slider.
The Yankees took back the lead in the sixth when the bases were loaded with one out and DJ LeMahieu grounded into an out at shortstop. They added some insurance when Donaldson doubled and then scored when Ramon Urias whiffed on Gleyber Torres’ ground ball.
Michael King struck out six of nine in three perfect innings of relief.
After getting two outs, Aroldis Chapman gave up singles to Tyler Nevin and Robinson Chirinos. Ryan McKenna’s fly ball dropped in front of Joey Gallo for a double, allowing the fourth run to score and putting the winning run on second base. Chapman then got Cedric Mullins to pop out in foul territory for his ninth save.
Beyond that, the influence of a rejuvenated Anthony Rizzo, DJ LeMahieu and Gleyber Torres have allowed the Bombers to go from good, but beatable, to downright terrifying. Rizzo already has 10 home runs and could surpass his career high of 32 if his early-season power continues through the coming months. LeMahieu is back to being the prototypical leadoff hitter that made him an impossible out during his first two years in pinstripes, slashing, chopping and lining hits to every part of the stadium. Torres is striking out less frequently than ever before and trails only Judge, Stanton and
Rizzo for the team lead in RBI.
A manager’s true dream, though, is getting beneficence from the top, middle, and bottom of the roster. As Stanton and Cole look like the $300 million men they are, and Judge is perhaps playing his way to an even larger contract, there’s also Nestor Cortes Jr. and his $727,500 salary. Cortes has been, full stop, one of the best pitchers alive. Not since the halcyon days of El Duque or peak Joba Chamberlain has a Yankee hurler combined cutesy fan admiration with legitimately excellent results.
Michael King has also been one of the best people in the world at his job.
In fact, King is the very best reliever in the game according to FanGraphs’ version of Wins Above Replacement. He’ll bring home $722,500 this year, an absolute steal for a guy with a 36.5% strikeout rate that can easily go multiple innings at a time.
The Yankees have an embarrassment of riches. The starting pitchers have posted the most WAR of any American League unit, just like the relievers have. The hitters lead the entire league in wRC+ and still haven’t gotten much from Joey Gallo or Aaron Hicks. With each series win, the comparisons to the 1998 team will grow louder and less hyperbolic.