NEW YORK – All eyes were on MLBbro Aaron Judge during the Yankees’ 4-3 victory over the Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
A day after being the designated hitter, the Bronx Bomber started his second game in right field since being activated from the Injured List on August 5th and – unlike Friday’s game – didn’t look as tentative. Take the top half of the second inning: With a runner on first and left-hander Max Fried on the mound, Blue Jays shortstop Ernie Clement hit the ball to the right-field corner. Judge grabbed the ball and made a strong throw to second base that almost nailed Clement.
“I thought he got a really good throw off in the corner there,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said after the game.
Two batters later, Isaiah Kiner-Falefa hit a fly ball to medium right field. It looked like Judge had a shot to nail Alejandro Kirk at the plate, but Judge threw to the cutoff man, second baseman Jazz Chisholm, and Kirk scored easily. With the Yankees up a run in the top of the fourth, the Blue Jays had a chance to tie the score at four. Toronto had Nathan Lukes on second base representing the tying run, but Judge saved the day by making a diving catch off the bat of George Springer to end the threat.
“The ball was hit really hard. It was a tough read [that] he got a good jump on. It was a great catch and a big part of the game,” recalled teammate Cody Bellinger.
In all, Judge had four put-outs, walked three times and scored two runs.
“I thought [Judge] stayed within himself well throughout [the game]. I’m just getting with him and he felt it went pretty well [in the outfield]. Yeah, I thought he looked good.” Boone said.
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Judge’s throwing problems stem from a flexor strain suffered on July 22nd against the Blue Jays. Since his return to action, Judge is 25-for-103 [.243] with six homers and 12 RBI.
Seeking its first AL East title since 2015, the Blue Jays (82-61) won eight of 13 games against the Yankees this year and hold the tiebreaker. New York (80-63) won its second straight over Toronto after losing Friday’s series opener and leads the AL Wildcard race.
