Judge Makes History as Yankees Find Their Way Back Against Pirates
Tuesday night saw the opening of a 2-game set between the Yankees and the Pirates at Yankee Stadium. However, it wasn’t your typical interleague matchup. There was a bit more buzz going through the stadium on this night. The reason: Aaron Judge.
The Yankees star and MVP candidate started the night just 2 home runs away from matching Roger Maris’s record of 61, set back in 1961, which has also stood as the most hit by a Yankees player in a single season and the most home runs in a season since that year. With only 146 games being played before last night’s game, it seems almost inevitable that Judge will surpass that record and set a new one of his own. The chances of this became even more apparent last night, as Judge helped the Yankees in their 9–8 comeback win with his 60th home run, and the Maris family in the stands.
It had been a pretty quiet night for Judge up until that ninth inning. He had gone 0–3 with a walk up until that point. It seemed that the wait would have to continue for him to hit that 60th home run. However, that turned out to not be the case, as he led off the bottom of the ninth by cracking one into the left field seats to make the score 8–5 Pirates. The ball, after making one bounce, was caught by a 20-year-old college outfielder/pitcher who had made the last-minute decision to go to that night’s game. It will be a memory he never forgets.
From there the Yankees stormed their way back. There was a double from Anthony Rizzo, a walk to Gleyber Torres, and a single by Josh Donaldson, with Rizzo having to hold at third while he waited for the ball to drop. This brought Giancarlo Stanton up to the plate.
Stanton had struggled on the night, going 0–3 with 3 strikeouts and just 1 walk to show for his efforts. Needless to say, he was looking to make his impact in that moment. And he did just that, sending a low liner sailing just over the wall into the stands in left field. The only question when bat met ball was whether it was going to be high enough, and sure enough, it was.
This meant that the Yankees had come all the way back and claimed a very important win. With just 15 games to go, the Yankees have a playoff clinch number of 10, with the Blue Jays and Rays still looming behind them in the AL east, and holding two of the three wildcard places. This makes every win important for the Yankees, especially since they still have a three-game set with the Blue Jays next week.
With all these important games ahead, the Yankees will be counting on players like Judge, Stanton, and their pitching staff to get them there. Of course, everyone is hoping that Judge can continue to make history at the same time. At the end of the day, the New York Yankees have a very exciting last 15 games of the season, and it will be an end to watch without a doubt.
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