Aaron Judge and his walk off against Blue Jays 5/10

Aaron Judge and his walk off against Blue Jays 5/10

Ava Nicole Shasha, Editor

Right Fielder Aaron Judge for the New York Yankees has been off to a great start to his ’22 season. The slugger has posted a .290 batting average, 31 hits, 22 rbis according to  MLB Player stats. Along with those stats, Judge has also mashed league leading- 10 home runs, which one came last night against the Blue Jays on May 10th. 

 

By the 9th inning, the Yankees were trailing by two runs in a much heated game. Leading off the bottom of the 9th, Isaiah Kiner-Falefa was up, facing Jordan Romano. Kiner-Falefa would strike out, leaving pressure on Yankees catcher Jose Trevino to get the rally started. After a 6 pitch at bat, Trevino would reach base with a walk, followed by another walk of DJ LeMahieu. 

 

With the Yankees threatening to score, with one out in the bottom of the 9th, the game winning run came up to the plate: Aaron Judge. After the first 2 pitches of the at bat, Judge was behind the count 0-2, which he would take the third pitch as a ball. Judge continued to fight in the box, fouling off the 4th and 5th pitch of the at bat. Judge was now still behind in the count at this point with 1 ball and 2 strikes against him. On the 6th pitch of the at bat, Romano threw a 84 MPH slider up in the zone, which Judge would hit a 414 foot walk off homerun. Aaron Judge has been notorious for hitting home runs, but this was his first walk off homerun ever. 

 

“It’s a weird feeling,” said Judge, who leads the Majors this year with 10 homers. “You hear the crowd going crazy, you look at your bench and you see your guys jumping over the railing, just getting all excited. It’s a special moment that I got to share with them,” said Judge in a post-game interview according to MLB Writer Bryan Hoch. 

 

After the intense game, Yankees manager Aaron Boone mentioned he was “glad it was Judge walking up” to bat, written in an article posted by the New York Post. 

 

Alongside  the action of Judge hitting his first walk off homerun, Josh Donaldson was at the plate when Toronto pitcher Yimi Garcia would hit Donaldson with the pitch, which led to both teams storming on the field, Garcia, Toronto manger Charlie Montoyo and Toronto Pitching coach Pete Walker would all be ejected due to this incident, according to a article written by Sporting News. 

 

As the Yankees look to stay hot, Judge will play a big role in the Yankees success over the season, as Judge and teammates are on the chase for a World Series.