Aaron Judge got back to being Aaron Judge and gave an ass playoff game its one shining moment. Judge's slump-busting and majestic two-run moonshot over the center-field wall in the bottom of the seventh inning highlighted his New York Yankees' 6-3 win over the Cleveland Guardians in Game 2 of the ALCS.
Judge came into Tuesday night’s home game hitting just .133 with only one run batted in, one extra-base hit and zero homers this postseason. “Did he get it?” TBS play-by-play guy Brian Anderson asked as Judge sent a letter-high, 95-mph fastball from Guardians hurler Hunter Gaddis skyward.
“He got it!” Robinson eventually added, once the ball landed far beyond the extended glove of leaping Guardians center fielder Lane Thomas. “Aaron Judge finally connects!”
Judge’s wallop off Gaddis, the seventh Guardians pitcher of the game, came with Gleyber Torres on first and gave the Yanks a 6-2 lead that Cleveland did not surmount.
Judge’s playoff woes, coming after he had a regular season for the ages, were much discussed heading into Tuesday’s game, and surely factored into Guardians manager Stephen Vogt’s decision with one out in the bottom of second to intentionally walk Juan Soto to load the bases with Judge on deck.
Vogt then pulled starter Tanner Bibee after just 1.1 innings and 39 pitches, and his team down only 1-0. Vogt brought in Cade Smith to pitch to Judge. With the home fans chanting “MVP!” the beloved but struggling slugger hit a sac fly to center to score Anthony Rizzo from third to double both his 2024 playoff RBI total and his team’s lead. Smith struck out Austin Wells to end the inning and the rally. But Vogt's decision to forsake Soto to face Judge might be the slight that snapped Judge back into form. God knows this series could use more of what he brought.
Vogt kept his leash short on Smith and all subsequent relievers in what turned out to be a bullpen game for the Guardians; ultimately eight different pitchers threw his side’s eight innings. The Yankees used five pitchers. The constant conferences and the related relievers’ commutes to the mound and warmups helped produce a game that lasted 3.5 hours.
And a tedium-packed 3.5 hours it was! For all this game's pre-pitch clock length, apart from Judge’s dong, the only excitement came from missed opportunities and gaffes. Both sides took turns fucking up.
Guardians shortstop Brayan Rocchio got lost tracking a popup from Judge in the first inning, and his drop allowed Torres to score the game’s first run.
In the top of the fourth, Yankees third baseman Jazz Chisholm cut in front of shortstop Anthony Volpe while failing to field a grounder from Lane Thomas, taking away any shot Volpe had to get the speedy Guardian. (The subsequent botch by Volpe was originally scored an error by both me and the official scorekeeper, but later changed by the official scorekeeper to a single. I’m standing pat with my “E.”)
Then Chisholm doubled to open the bottom of the sixth, only to get picked off second base, and prolong the misery by talking his manager into a failed appeal of the out call. Cleveland right fielder Will Brennan misplayed Rizzo’s shot to right after taking his eyes off the ball to check on Yankee baserunners, allowing Volpe to score and Rizzo to take second. Rizzo returned the favor by getting picked off to end the inning. (Back to me: I'm pretty I hadn’t seen two runners picked off in one inning since I saw three runners picked off in one inning by Baltimore Orioles reliever Tippy Martinez in 1983.)
Brennan’s second boner of the night came when he dropped a sinking liner from Volpe in the bottom of the eigth. (Somehow it wasn’t scored an error by the same scorekeeper who reversed Volpe’s drop.)
Cleveland left the bases loaded twice. Clay Holmes, brought in for Yankees starter Gerrit Cole with one out and the bases loaded in the fifth and the Yankees up, 3-1, got the win despite pitching just two-thirds of an inning. Holmes ended that inning, and the Guardians’ last real rally of the night, by striking out Austin Hedges.
Yanks closer Luke Weaver gave up a rare but ultimately meaningless solo homer to Jose Ramirez in the top of the ninth to close out the scoring. New York relievers have now allowed just two runs all postseason. The best-of-seven series now heads to Cleveland with the Yanks up 2-0, and Judge with his groove back.
“It was good to add two,” Judge said when asked about his home run in a postgame interview on TBS that was as ass as the game preceding it. “We just gotta go out there and keep playing our game.”
