Judge, Volpe Come Up Clutch for New York Yankees
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One swing of the bat from Aaron Judge was all it took to shift the game’s momentum.
Entering the bottom of the ninth inning, the New York Yankees were in a precarious situation. They trailed the second-place Baltimore Orioles 5-4, and despite having the top of the order due up, they had to rally against Baltimore closer Felix Bautista.
Bautista is currently one of the best relievers in the league, who makes up for occasional control issues with devastating strikeout stuff. In addition to a fastball that regularly hits 100 mph, his splitter is downright nasty and is one of the game’s best strikeout pitches.
But it doesn’t matter how good a pitcher’s stuff is if they don’t locate it well, especially to a hitter like Judge.
Bautista struck out Gleyber Torres for the first out, and got two quick strikes on Judge with a pair of 100+ mph fastballs. However, he badly missed his location when trying to throw the splitter, and threw it right down the middle. Judge didn’t miss it, and he hit it a mile.
Anthony Rizzo and DJ LeMahieu both struck out to end the inning, but the game now entered extra innings and the Yankees had all the momentum. All they needed was a clean tenth inning and they would be in prime position to win.
Michael King, in his second inning of work, did exactly that. With Adley Rutschman automatically placed at second, King pitched a 1-2-3 inning with a pair of strikeouts. Anthony Santander and Ryan Mountcastle both went down swinging, and Adam Frazier lined a ball to Anthony Volpe, who made a nice leaping catch for the third out.
In the bottom of the inning, the Yankees would win it against Baltimore reliever Bryan Baker. Harrison Bader’s groundout advanced Isiah Kiner-Falefa (pinch-running for LeMahieu) to third. Baker then intentionally walked Willie Calhoun (who was 0-for-4 on the night) to set up a possible inning-ending double play, but Volpe (who was also 0-fo-4) would do his job. He lifted a fly ball to deep center field that was caught by Cedric Mullins, but it was more than enough to score Kiner-Falefa for a walk-off sacrifice fly. The Yankees won, 6-5, and the rookie shortstop was absolutely mobbed by his teammates.
It was a massive victory for the Yankees; in addition to gaining a game on the Orioles (who are currently in second place in the AL East), they also gained a game on the first place Tampa Bay Rays, who were blown out by the Toronto Blue Jays. Thanks to Tuesday’s results, the Bronx Bombers are now just five games behind the Rays and two games behind the Orioles.
The Yankees look to win the series against Baltimore on Wednesday, with Nestor Cortes Jr. scheduled to take the hill. First pitch is at 7:05 pm ET on Amazon Prime Video.
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