What a Night for Aaron Judge as Yankees Keep Rolling

Aaron Judge had the kind of night that superstars have and the Yankees won yet another series by taking down the previously red-hot Twins for the second night in a row. And down in Box Score Briefs, some thoughts on the dregs of baseball rising up for a day, the mystifying Blue Jays, the cheating Astros, and the frustrating Reds. Lets get to it.

May 15: Yankees 4, Twins 0

OK, I’ll admit it, I probably panicked more than I should have about Aaron Judge’s painfully slow start to the season. A veteran sports writer like me, nearly 40 years in the business. Shame on me.

But hey, he did look like shit, right?

Well, that sure has changed in the last couple weeks because the big guy is back to being a bad, bad man in the eyes of opposing pitchers. What a night he had Wednesday as he went 4-for-4 with a walk, scored two runs and drove in two. He hit a 467-foot home run into the third deck in left at Target Field, ripped three straight doubles, then drew his walk in the ninth to maintain his perfect night at the plate.

“I mean, it’s Aaron Judge,” Aaron Boone said. “Yeah, so much for that tough start. He felt a little oversized for the park. What a show he put on today.”

This was the second time Judge has compiled four extra-base hits in one game, the first coming last Sept. 23 against the Diamondbacks when he had three homers and a double. Babe Ruth had four extra-base hits in a game twice, like Judge. The only others in Yankee history who have done that? Joe DiMaggio and Lou Gehrig, five times each. Pretty nice company for the captain.

Of the home run, Boone said, “As soon as it was hit, myself included, it was like you want to get to a position where you don’t miss where it’s going to land. I even felt (Giancarlo Stanton) running up the steps to get into position to see it. That’s how that swing felt, right away, ‘Where’s this going to land?’”

Judge had 11 total bases, the seventh time in his career he has had at least 10 in one game. You want another impressive list? Here are the Yankees who have had the most games with at least 10 total bases: Ruth (19 times), Gehrig (18), DiMaggio (14), Mickey Mantle (8), Alex Rodriguez (8), Judge (7).

Judge has five multi-hit performances in his past 10 games, he’s 16-for-36 (.444) over that span which has raised his average from .200 to .255, and his OPS to .926 which now ranks ninth in MLB. His 11 homers are now tied for sixth, just two behind MLB leader Kyle Tucker of the Astros (13).

“We’re getting there,” Judge said. “Not there yet. Hopefully we get there when we’re talking in November.”

Here are my observations:

➤ Judge drove the bus, but there weren’t a lot of passengers in this game. Tuesday night, all nine Yankees starters had at least one hit when they had 13 in their 5-1 victory. In this one, eight starters had at least one, the only shutout being Anthony Rizzo who took an 0-for-4 as the Yankees pounded out another 13 hits.

➤ Judge’s homer off a very good pitcher, Pablo Lopez, opened the scoring in the first. In the second, three straight one-out singles by Gleyber Torres, Jose Trevino and Oswaldo Cabrera felt like a big inning was coming, but the only run scored when Anthony Volpe flied out as Juan Soto made the third out. In the third, another run as Judge doubled, took third on Alex Verdugo’s single and scored on Stanton’s single. The final run came when Soto and Judge hit back-to-back doubles in seventh.

➤ Marcus Stroman had a very nice night, six scoreless innings allowing just two hits and three walks. It basically matched his six shutout innings against Toronto in his second Yankee start back on April 5. In between, there have been a few rough outings, but overall Stroman has been solid and his ERA is now down to 3.33. The only area he needs to improve is his walk rate of 4.6 per nine which is a career-worst mark.

➤ Can we talk about Luke Weaver? Who could have ever imagined this guy would pitch the way he has? A journeyman who is on his sixth team in nine years with a 5.01 career ERA, the 30-year-old has been a revelation this season. He is currently riding a 17.1 innings scoreless streak, during which he has allowed just five hits and two walks while striking out 23. That’s Mariano Rivera-type numbers. For the season, Weaver has pitched in 16 games and has a 2.25 ERA and a remarkable 0.679 WHIP. Weaver relieved Stroman and pitched the seventh and eighth innings. He gave up a single in the seventh but whiffed two, and then in the eighth, after a walk and a single, he got Carlos Correa to ground into an inning-ending double play.

➤ Caleb Ferguson, pitching for the first time since his disaster in Tampa Bay Sunday, pitched an easy 1-2-3 ninth to close it out, giving the Yankees their 11th series victory in the first 14. It’s only the eighth time in team history they’ve started a season that well.

⚾ What a weird afternoon it was across MLB, and it just offered further evidence that you just never know on any given day. The three worst teams in the sport are, unequivocally, the White Sox, Rockies and Marlins. Yet all three of those teams won their games.

⚾ We’ll start with the Rockies. What the hell is going on out there? One week ago, Colorado was making a run at the 1962 Mets, the expansion team that famously lost 120 games. The Rockies were 8-28 and looking every bit like the worst team in the sport. Since then, they have won seven games in a row. They beat the Giants to snap a four-game losing streak, then swept the defending World Series champion Rangers, and Wednesday completed a three-game sweep of the ever-frustrating Padres with an 8-0 victory and are now 15-28. Still going nowhere, but it’s better than it was. Austin Gomber pitched six scoreless innings and somehow, playing for this team, he has allowed just one earned run in his last three starts across 18.2 innings and now has an ERA of 3.02.

⚾ The 13-32 Marlins, who all but announced that they’ve quit on 2024 the moment they traded Luis Arraez to the Padres last week, blanked the Tigers 2-0 as Trevor Rogers pitched five shutout innings and improved to 1-6 with a 5.79 ERA. So yeah, his performance was somewhat surprising. Then again, it came against the Tigers who can’t hit. They beat Miami 1-0 in 10 innings Tuesday. Wednesday, the only runs in the game came in the top of the first when Bryan De La Cruz hit a two-run homer off Casey Mize. Thus, in the last two games, 19 innings worth, these teams scored a grand total of three runs.

⚾ The White Sox improved to 14-30 as they blanked the Nationals 2-0. Garrett Crochet, who is pretty much the lone bright spot on the South side, pitched five scoreless innings and closer Michael Kopech - the rumor of many trades - saved his fifth game despite walking two in the ninth, and he finished it by retiring one of Washington’s best hitters, shortstop C.J. Abrams, on a fly ball.

⚾ How much longer does Toronto manager John Schneider have before he gets fired? The Blue Jays are putting on a masterclass in underachieving this season. They’re now 19-23 and in last place in the AL East as they got walked off by the Orioles 3-2. Toronto began the ninth with a 2-1 lead but struggling closer Jordan Romano threw eight pitches and here’s how that went - single by Jordan Westburg, two-run home run by Adley Rutschman that hit the top of the wall in right and bounced over. It’s the third game in a row that he’s hit a home run. What a player.

Bo Bichette drove in both Toronto runs and is now hitting .227, Vlad Guerrero has been on a little roll lately but still has only four home runs, and George Springer remains in a funk and is hitting .201. As a team, the Jays are hitting .221 which is 21st in MLB and their 35 home runs are tied for third-fewest. Hey, no tears from me.

⚾ The Astros are still cheating. Man, this franchise is deplorable, such an easy one to despise. Ronel Blanco, who pitched a no-hitter in his first start of the year - and just the eighth start of his career - was caught with rosin on the inside of his glove Tuesday night. That’s illegal, and he was ejected and later suspended 10 games.

Not that it mattered because the Astros still beat the A’s that night 2-1 on Victor Caratini’s walk-off single in the 10th. And then Wednesday, they beat the A’s again, this time 3-0 as Framber Valdez threw seven scoreless two-hit innings. That was Houston’s fourth straight win, sixth in the last seven, and now they’re only 5.5 games behind the first-place Mariners in the AL West. This was inevitable. Anyone who thought the Astros were dead after their 12-24 start are crazy. This team is still going to make the playoffs, mark my words.

⚾ It must be tough being a Reds fan. That team has so much young talent, including the Cyborg that is Elly De La Cruz, but they just can’t get their shit together. They started a promising 14-10, but since they’ve gone 4-15 which included an eight-game losing streak. Now, seven of their next 10 games are against the Dodgers, so it doesn’t figure to get much better. Wednesday they dropped a 2-1 decision to the Diamondbacks. And yet, there’s De La Cruz. He has nine homers, 21 RBI, an .857 OPS and a league-leading 26 stolen bases.