NEW YORK — No one expects rookie George Lombard Jr. to fill giant Aaron Judge shoes. But against the Rays, he put a show of power and speed to hand Judge-less Yankees a new weapon.
The Yankees spent five innings Thursday looking exactly like a team that could miss its biggest hitter in October.
Tampa Bay left-hander Ian Seymour held New York to one hit, the Rays built a 4-0 lead at Yankee Stadium and the Yankees again faced the problem Aaron Judge’s calf injury has made unavoidable. Their postseason lineup may have to create offense without waiting for the captain to change a game with one swing.
Austin Wells finally broke through with a sixth-inning homer. Ben Rice opened the seventh with a single, and Lombard Jr. doubled him home to make it 4-2. The Yankees suddenly had speed on third, pressure on Tampa Bay’s battery and an inning that no longer depended entirely on home-run power.
That mattered because Judge remains on the injured list with what Aaron Boone has called a moderate right calf strain. However, his absence seems to have no impact as the Yankees clinched the series win over the Rays with back-to-back wins.
The play that changed what Lombard can mean in October
The moment that made Lombard’s value looked different from a standard hot streak.
With Lombard at third in the seventh inning, Rays reliever Brody Hopkins threw a pitch that escaped catcher Liam Hicks and caromed off the backstop. Lombard broke for home. Hicks recovered faster than expected, forcing the rookie to alter his path as the tag arrived.
Lombard started into a feet-first slide, popped up, twisted around Hicks in fair territory and reached back with his right hand to touch the plate. The run cut Tampa Bay’s lead to 4-3 and turned a loose pitch into the kind of manufactured run the Yankees may need if Judge is unavailable.
Lombard said afterward that the maneuver was instinctive rather than rehearsed.
“I think that’s my first time ever doing that one in a game,” Lombard said.
Paul Goldschmidt tied the game later in the inning. One inning after Lombard used his legs to create a run, he used his power to finish the comeback, launching a two-run homer off Steven Matz into the second deck in left field for a 6-4 Yankees lead.
Bradley Hanner worked two scoreless innings for his first major league win. Matz took the loss, and there was no save.
Four of six Yankees runs ran through one rookie
Lombard’s impact went beyond the highlight. His seventh-inning double drove in Ben Rice. His dash home produced another run. His eighth-inning homer scored Amed Rosario and himself.
Four of the Yankees’ six runs, or 66.7%, were directly connected to Lombard’s bat or baserunning. That directly addresses the Yankees’ postseason problem.
Judge cannot be replaced by one player. He has hit .241 with 18 home runs and 41 RBIs in 66 games, and his presence changes how pitchers navigate the entire Yankees lineup. Boone made the club’s current Wild Card assumption clear earlier this week.
“We’re planning on him not being a part of that,” Boone said.
Lombard cannot duplicate Judge’s middle-of-the-order impact, but he can pressure a defense with speed, turn a mistake into a run and still punish a pitcher with power.
A five-ball stretch shows the bat is changing
The underlying contact gives the Yankees another reason to take Lombard’s surge seriously. His five most recent batted balls were recorded at 110.2, 110.1, 94.0, 106.0 and 102.5 mph. Four of those five were hit at least 102.5 mph.
Across his last 15 batted balls, seven topped 102 mph and five exceeded 106 mph. Lombard is producing impact contact, not merely riding a run of soft hits.
Through 41 games, the 21-year-old is hitting .243 with seven home runs and 22 RBIs. Four homers and half his RBIs have come in his last 10 games.
The eighth-inning homer added historical weight. At 21 years and 114 days, Lombard became the second-youngest Yankees player to hit a go-ahead homer in the eighth inning or later. Mickey Mantle was younger when he hit a go-ahead grand slam on July 29, 1952, at 20 years and 283 days.
Lombard, meanwhile, has picked the most important stretch of his rookie season to become one of the Yankees’ hottest hitters. Over his last 10 games, he has hit .310/.326/.643 with four home runs and 11 RBIs. Seven of his last 15 batted balls have left his bat at more than 102 mph, including five above 106 mph.
His first 40 major league games also produced a 93 wRC+, matching the 2026 offensive mark for an average MLB shortstop supplied in the research data. Lombard paired that league-average bat with plus-5 DRS defense, giving the Yankees a rookie whose value is no longer tied to one tool. The next sequence showed why that distinction matters.
Judge’s absence changes value of Lombard’s skill set
Lombard cannot reproduce Judge’s middle-of-the-order impact, but Thursday showed one way he can help cover part of the offensive loss. His speed can force hurried throws, change pitch decisions and create scoring chances on balls that normally produce nothing.
Thursday showed why Lombard’s athleticism may matter as much as his emerging power in a short postseason series. One loose ball or aggressive read can swing a best-of-three round, and Lombard gives Boone another way to create pressure when the Yankees lineup stalls.
New York closes the regular season against Baltimore with its playoff position secured but its October lineup unsettled. Judge’s status remains unresolved, while Lombard enters the final weekend producing his most decisive baseball yet.
Thursday’s homer won the game 6-4. The slide may have shown the Yankees something they will need even more next week.
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