David Lennon: Aaron Judge's heroics were inevitable and sorely needed in series finale win over Rays
The Yankees' Aaron Judge celebrates with teammates after hitting a two-run walk-off two run in the ninth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium on Sunday. Credit: Newsday/Thomas A. Ferrara
Ultimately, Aaron Judge was going to hit another home run. It’s as natural as breathing for the three-time MVP, so the fact that he went 11 games without launching a baseball over the fence meant one was on the way, sooner rather than later.
Beating the Rays, however, was hardly guaranteed for the Yankees, who already had lost four straight to first-place Tampa Bay this season and really couldn’t afford to come up empty again in Sunday’s series finale, even in late May.
So in the ninth inning of a scoreless game, everyone at the Stadium had an idea what was coming when Judge stepped to the plate to face Rays reliever Kevin Kelly. The Yankees, watching from the dugout rail, toed the line between excitedly hopeful and secretly convinced.
“You always know that it’s highly likely,” said Cody Bellinger, before downshifting to “very possible.”
Based on the stakes, and the situation, Bellinger’s first instinct was the correct one. Kelly’s opening pitch to Judge was a 93-mph sinker that cut toward the inside of the plate -- and wound up landing a few rows deep in the right-centerfield seats to deliver a 2-0 victory for the Yankees.
The walk-off blast was Judge’s fourth since 2022, tied with Patrick Bailey for most in the majors during that span (h/t to researcher Katie Sharp), and ended a drought of 55 plate appearances going back to his first-inning homer against the Brewers on May 10 in Milwaukee. That also was the date of his last RBI, so to suggest Judge was due would be an understatement.
“I really didn’t know about it until you guys bring it up,” Judge said. “But there’s no frustration. I got a job to do. Obviously I want to get the job done and help the team win. And we weren’t winning, so I was mad about that. But no homers, no RBIs? You can find other ways to help your team win, so that’s what I was trying to do. I’m glad the homer and RBIs came in a win for us.”
As Judge’s latest funk reminded us, the Yankees don’t win when he doesn’t produce, and it wasn’t just the lack of homers, either. Judge was hitting .159 (7-for-44) with 16 strikeouts heading into Sunday so it was hardly a coincidence the Yankees also were in the midst of a 4-10 skid that began during that Brewers sweep.
As the zeroes kept piling up on a rainy Bronx afternoon, Judge didn’t offer much foreshadowing. He ripped a single in his first at-bat, but then exhibited some very non-Judge-ian behavior by getting doubled up on Ben Rice’s hard lineout to rightfield. For whatever reason, Judge drifted more than halfway to second base on what appeared to be a rather routine out off the bat. It was a head-scratcher, prompting manager Aaron Boone to turn to his bench coach Brad Ausmus and say, “I’ve never seen that.”
“Things like that don’t ever happen with him,” Boone added.
Judge admitted later that he was trying to get a good jump, thinking Rice’s liner would be in the gap -- only to be dead wrong.
“It’s a bad look,” Judge said. “I just got to clean that up.”
The Yankees supplied the captain with that second chance by playing one of their most airtight games this season. Ryan Weathers kept pace with Rays starter Drew Rasmussen as both delivered seven scoreless innings, and it was the Yankees who came up with a number of pivotal defensive plays to later set the stage for Judge’s ninth-inning heroics.
The biggest came in the eighth, when Bellinger threw out Junior Caminero at third base to thwart what appeared to be Ryan Vilade’s go-ahead RBI single. With two outs, and pinch-runner Oliver Dunn hustling around to score from second, Bellinger alertly rifled to third, where Ryan McMahon quickly applied the tag on Caminero before Dunn crossed the plate. The play was reviewed, but in reality, it was an easy call.
“Honestly, that was all Mac,” Bellinger said. “I picked my head up, Mac had a huge target at third, and I actually threw a pretty nasty sinker to him. He did a great of picking it and putting the tag on.”
Said Judge, “That’s a game-changing play right there. Good pick by Mac, but that’s why (Bellinger) is a Gold Glover out there and been kind of our MVP all season long -- him and Ben Rice.”
But it was the Yankees’ three-time MVP waiting in the wings to do what he does best -- hammer a pitch over the wall. Weathers’ gem, the fine defensive plays, even the two tightrope relief innings from Fernando Cruz and Tim Hill were all part of the supporting cast. On an afternoon when the Yankees had to show they could outclass the Rays at their own game -- pitching, defense and baserunning -- the outcome still was decided by one massive swing from Judge, who could only be contained for so long.
“It really feels like a matter of time,” Bellinger said. “This game is so difficult, and he’s literally one of the best hitters of all time. But he’s always grinding, always working and it was good to see that one go over the fence for sure.”
Maybe Judge played it cool afterward for the postgame media, but there was genuine joy -- and dare we say relief -- when he leaped into the pinstriped scrum waiting at home plate. The “M-V-P” chants from the crowd of 41,396 serenaded him around the bases.
“It’s a special moment,” Judge said.
And one that could only be described as inevitable.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
