Judge’s Third Walk-Off Home Run of the Season
Aaron Judge has made walk-off home runs into a habit.
Judge hit his major league-leading 39th home run on Thursday, his third walk-off home run of the season, lifting the New York Yankees to a 1-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals.
New York was held to one hit until Judge hit a 431-foot first-pitch fastball from Scott Barlow (4-3) into the Kansas City bullpen with one out in the ninth.
Judge enthralled the 43,836-strong crowd by becoming the first Yankee since Mickey Mantle to hit three walk-off home runs in a single season. Tommy Henrich had two in 1949, plus one-off Don Newcombe of Brooklyn in the World Series opener.
Before May 10 against Toronto’s Jordan Romano, Judge had never hit a big league walk-off homer, and he added another on June 26 against Houston’s Seth Martinez. He became the first Yankee since Claudell Washington in 1988 to have four walk-off hits in a single season.
Judge also stole his tenth base, tying his career high.
Since Ruben Sierra’s walk-off homer off Blue Jays pitcher Vinnie Chulk on April 22, 2004, the Yankees had not won a 1-0 game on a walk-off homer.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the New York Mets have 12 walk-off victories, which is one fewer than the 1959 Pittsburgh Pirates.
Andrew Benintendi went 0 for 4 with one strikeout in his Yankees debut, facing Kansas City just one day after the Royals traded him to New York in exchange for three minor league pitchers.
Clay Holmes (5-1) pitched a hitless ninth inning, combining on a four-hitter with Jameson Taillon and Ron Marinaccio.
Taillon struck out eight batters in six innings and allowed four hits. Ron Marinaccio, a rookie, got six outs in two hitless innings and hasn’t given up a run in 19 innings. In that time, batters have gone 0 for 57 against him.
Brady Singer struck out ten batters and allowed one hit in seven innings, a two-out single by Gleyber Torres in the fourth. Kansas City fell to 39-60, finishing last in the AL Central.
Joey Gallo, the Yankees’ outfielder, was booed as he struck out three times for the 12th time this season. Gallo, who was hitting.159, struck out four times in two games.
UP NEXT
RHP Gerrit Cole (9-3, 3.09 ERA) makes his seventh start for the Yankees against Kansas City. In their previous meetings, the five-time All-Star has a 2.04 ERA in 39 2/3 innings pitched.
What do you think, leave a comment below?
