Arson Judge Firebombs Giants. NY 6 SF 2

June 1, 2024 paperbacklou 2024 0

Aaron Judge firebombed the Giants’ Oracle Park with a 3-run Blast to left center in the 3rd to give NY a 3-1 lead, and a solo Blast to center in the 6th to give NY a 4-1 lead, en route to a 6-2 NY win on a Friday night in San Francisco.

Marcus Stroman pitched commanding ball into the 8th, allowing 2 runs in 7.1 innings to get the win and go 5-2 2.73.

Luke Weaver finished up with 1.2 shutout innings.

Judge now leads MLB with 20 homers. It was the last day of May — on the 1st day of May Judge was batting .200. He hit 14 homeruns in the month and is now slashing 20-45-.282 (.408 OBP) with a 1.056 OPS that also leads baseball.

“Just a great player,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards. “You think you’d stop being surprised, but it’s impressive what he’s done — what is it 26 extra base hits this month? It’s hard to wrap your brain around that — what he’s doing.”

NY improves to 40-19, and remain 2 games ahead of Baltimore in the AL East. The Giants drop to 29-29.

1. Arson Judge Sets Place on Fire with 3-Run HR

Arson Judge became a thing when reporter Jon Heyman famously tweeted “Arson Judge appears headed to the Giants” during Judge’s free agent contract negotiations the winter before last. It shook all of Yankee Universe. It never happened. Judge signed with the Yankees shortly thereafter. Not only did Heyman get the earth-shaking news wrong, but he spelled Aaron Judge‘s name wrong.

This game was Aaron Judge’s first game in San Francisco since the tweet. And Aaron Judge was born in the area and grew up a San Francisco Giants fan (one of the reasons why the Giants felt they could sign him).

The Yanks were down 1-0 in the 3rd against 27-year-old, 6’2 right-hander Jordan Hicks when with 1 out Anthony Volpe singled and Juan Soto singled, bringing up Judge. Judge ran the count 3-2, fouled off 2 pitches, then ripped an 86-MPH splitter 394 feet to left center for a 3-1 Yankee lead.

“You dream about it in the backyard,” said Aaron Judge afterwards about hitting the homers in the ballpark he watched baseball in as a kid.

2. Arson Judge Torches Giants with Solo HR in 6th

Judge did it again leading off the 6th — ripping a 3-1 sinker DEEP to left center — a 426-foot FIREBOMB.

3. Yanks Pick Up 2 More Runs on Error

After Judge’s 2nd homer, Alex Verdugo grounded out but Gleyber Torres reached on an infield single, and Jordan Hicks was yanked at 101 pitches.

Taylor Rogers relieved him and Anthony Rizzo greeted him with a high drive to right center that banged off the wall for a double, putting runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out.

On the first pitch to Austin Wells, Rogers threw a 93-MPH sinker inside which got past catcher Patrick Bailey for a passed ball, scoring Gleyber from 3rd base — and on the play, Bailey retrieved the ball and threw back to Rogers covering home — but as Rogers swiped a tag, the ball fell out of his glove and rolled away, allowing Rizzo to scamper home. NY 6 SF 1.

4. Stroman Sinker Strong

Meanwhile, Marcus Stroman threw another strong outing. He scattered singles, but used his sinker to get ground-out double plays to erase baserunners.

  • Stroman allowed a single in the 1st to Thairo Estrada, but picked him off 1st to end the inning.
  • Stroman allowed 2 singles to lead off the 2nd, and then a sac fly for a run, but then got a double play to end the inning.
  • Stroman allowed a 1-out single in the 3rd, but got a double play to end the inning.
  • Stroman pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 4th, then in the 5th allowed a leadoff single — but got a double play to erase the runner.
  • Stroman allowed a walk and then a 2-out RBI double to Mike Yastrzemski in the 6th for a 6-2 game, then pitched around a 1-out walk in the 7th, getting the last 2 batters.

Stroman got the first out of the 8the before leaving at 91 pitches. His line: 7.1 innings, 6 hits, 2 runs, 2 K’s, 2 walks. He wins to go 5-2 2.73.

5. Weaver Finishes

Luke Weaver came in and was terrific again — getting the last 2 batters of the 8th and pitching a shutout 9th, allowing a 1-out single but getting 2 groundouts for the old ballgame.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401569329

 

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