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Aaron Judge Defends His Controversial Defensive Slide vs Brewers

Yankees star Aaron Judge addressed his controversial slide from Sunday's win over the Brewers.

Tim Capurso

Aaron Judge Slide vs. Brewers
Aaron Judge Slide vs. Brewers /
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New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge was the talk of Sunday's game after his club's 15-5 win over the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field, but not because of his three-hit day or the fact that he's now homered in two straight games.

Judge, running on a grounder off the bat of Alex Verdugo in the sixth inning, put his left arm, padded by a sliding mitt, in the air while sliding into second base. Judge's hand blocked the throw to first by Brewers shortstop Willy Adames and led to Verdugo reaching safely.

The umpiring crew gathered together to discuss the play but did not rule interference, which elicited protestations from Brewers manager Pat Murphy.

Judge, speaking to reporters after the game, defended the controversial slide.

"You can look back at any picture you want of me sliding into second base," Judge said. "That's always happened."

The Yankees went on to score seven runs in the sixth inning after Judge's slide. Murphy, steadfast in his belief, told reporters Judge was "purposely trying to obstruct" the path of the baseball.

"It's hard to say that he wasn't making an attempt at least purposely to obstruct," Murphy said. "I don't think he wanted to get hit by the ball, but I think he was trying to purposely obstruct. That's my opinion. I don't know what his intent was. He seems like a wonderful man, but very competitive also."

After reviewing replay of the slide, crew chief Andy Fletcher acknowledged that a mistake was made by his crew, and that interference should have been called.

Judge and the Yankees won two of the three games in the series, scoring 30 runs across two contests on Saturday and Sunday.

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Tim Capurso

TIM CAPURSO