Striking out on own
Apparently, Aaron Judge is human, after all.
The slugging right fielder reached base four times in the Yankees’ 7-4, 11-inning loss to the Orioles on Sunday, but he struck out with the bases loaded to end the 10th.
Still, he managed to reach base in eight straight plate appearances over Saturday and Sunday and went 5-for-9 with three homers and six walks in the series against the Orioles.
He added two more strong defensive plays in right, one on a Manny Machado fly ball to end the top of the first and another on a long fly by Joey Rickard to end the top of the sixth that prevented more runs from scoring.
Judge has emerged as the most popular player among fans this month and manager Joe Girardi has been impressed by how the 25year-old has handled the spotlight.
“I don’t worry about him staying grounded, but you worry about him being pulled in a lot of different directions and how you handle that,” Girardi said. “Because when you get off to starts like this and you’re new and [with] the type of home runs he’s hitting, people are gonna want his attention. It’s important he focuses on what his job is.”
Since his job is being productive at the plate and playing good defense, it seems like Judge is heeding Girardi’s words. Girardi defended going to Jonathan Holder with two on and no one out in the top of the sixth instead of a more reliable arm like Tyler Clippard or Dellin Betances to replace Jordan Montgomery with a one-run lead.
“You could [bring them in], but you’re going to ask them to give you multiple outs,” Girardi said. “Holder did a good job with that part of the lineup the other day, so I liked him coming in that situation. It just didn’t happen.”
Holder allowed both runners to score to give the Orioles the lead, in part because of a two-run double by Jonathan Schoop.
Clippard ended up pitching a scoreless seventh and Betances a scoreless eighth and the Yankees tied the game in the ninth.
Gary Sanchez is on schedule to begin a rehab stint Tuesday with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. If he doesn’t have any setbacks, the catcher could rejoin the Yankees in time for their series against the Cubs in Chicago, which begins Friday.
“That’s the early hope,” general manager Brian Cashman said. “We’ll wait and see how he comes out of his rehab assignment.”
Pete Kozma, who was designated for assignment when Didi Gregorius returned from his shoulder strain, was claimed off waivers by the Rangers on Sunday.
Gleyber Torres was back at shortstop again Sunday for Double-A Trenton, but Cashman made it clear the Yankees will continue to move him around the infield in order to give him as many options as possible to advance up the system.
“The player development plan includes second, third and short and nothing has changed,” Cashman said. “That’s still the case.”
Torres, who got off to a slow start with Trenton this season and then landed on the 7-day disabled list with rotator cuff tendinitis, hit his first homer at Double-A on Saturday and added two hits and a walk on Sunday.