NEW YORK – At first, they tried to finesse it. And, to be fair, it even worked for a bit.
But Aaron Judge is one of the best power hitters this sport has seen in decades. Any attempts to silence him are precarious at best and likely to be short-lived.
For the Guardians, that reality set in one out into the seventh inning Tuesday, when Judge crushed a Hunter Gaddis fastball over the centre-field wall at Yankee Stadium for his first home run of the 2024 post-season. Judge quietly dropped his bat, the crowd of 47,054 erupted and the Yankees were well on their way to a 6-3 win that gives them a 2-0 lead over Cleveland in the ALCS.
“Any time we score runs, this place explodes. It’s something special. There’s nothing like it in baseball,” Judge said afterwards. “Guys are excited, but we still know there’s a lot of work to be done.”
Until Tuesday, Judge’s October contributions had been limited – at least at the plate. He entered play with just one extra-base hit in the post-season, and a .564 OPS. It’s a small sample, to be sure, but his teammates were already facing questions about his struggles.
“It’s going to take every single guy in that lineup,” Juan Soto said Monday. “We can’t lean on only him.”
Judge popped up his first time up Tuesday and though rookie shortstop Brayan Rocchio dropped the ball with a costly error, it was another frustrating swing for the Yankees captain. But even considering these recent struggles, what Stephen Vogt did in the second inning was still unexpected.
With runners on second and third and one out, Soto was due up, creating a dilemma for the Guardians manager. He could either pitch to Soto, a left-handed hitter who hit 41 home runs with a .989 OPS in the regular season, or walk Soto and challenge Judge, a right-handed hitter who hit 58 home runs with a 1.159 OPS in the regular season.
As Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo put it: “You’re picking your poison.”
To the audible surprise of the crowd, Vogt chose to face Judge while bringing reliever Cade Smith into the game. In doing so, he created a force at every base and gained the platoon advantage, but – let’s be sure not to overlook this part – he deliberately walked the bases loaded to face the game’s best hitter.
“They were hitting the ball around the ballpark, and we needed to stop (them),” Vogt explained later. “In that situation, you want to try to get a double-play ball. You want to try to get two outs with one pitch. You want to try to find a way to get out of that inning.”
As for Judge, he said the decision was more of a compliment to Soto than an insult to him.
“Not really surprised,” he said. “(Soto’s) been swinging the bat well, and they were trying to get a double-play ball to get out of the inning. I’d probably walk him, too.”
“I’m personally probably not doing that,” Rizzo countered. “But you set up a double play and I respect Stephen Vogt so much as a player and what he’s doing as a manager … it takes a lot of courage to do that move.”
Remarkably, the plan worked. Smith, an Abbotsford, B.C. native who has emerged as a legitimately dominant relief option, induced a sacrifice fly from Judge then struck out Austin Wells to end the inning.
“I can’t say I was totally shocked,” said Yankees manager Aaron Boone. “Sometimes you’ve got to take a shot that’s a little bit unconventional.”
By keeping the deficit to three runs, the Guardians gave their offence a chance to come back against Gerrit Cole, who was not at his sharpest on a night he allowed six hits and four walks in 4.1 innings. And by the fifth inning, Cleveland was back to within one run.
“Bend, don’t break,” Cole said.
In the middle innings, the Yankees seemed vulnerable, as both Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Rizzo were thrown out needlessly on the bases in the sixth inning, but the Guardians couldn’t capitalize. They played sloppy defence for the second consecutive night, making two errors and missing another catchable ball on their way to giving the Yankees two unearned runs.
And then there was Judge. Because Cleveland pulled starter Tanner Bibee so early, the Yankees’ best hitters were destined to face a parade of relievers from the Guardians’ deep bullpen. While Judge missed some hittable pitches earlier in the game, he found the barrel when Gaddis challenged him with a fastball atop the strike zone.
Now, the narrative about Judge’s struggles can quiet for a while. This swing was vital to the Yankees’ win, and his 14th career playoff homer means that only Bernie Williams, Derek Jeter, Mickey Mantle and Babe Ruth have more post-season homers in franchise history.
“Always a matter of time with Aaron,” said Boone. “Definitely good to see him put one in the seats.”
History aside, the Yankees are now in full command of this series. As the series shifts to Cleveland, New York’s best hitters are producing whereas the Guardians don’t even know who’s starting Game 3 or 4 following an injury to Alex Cobb.
The opportunity’s there for the AL East champions. Now it’s on the Yankees to seize it.
“Once you hit that homer and touch home plate, that moment’s over and it’s on to the next one,” Judge said. “Don’t make any moment too big.”