SAN DIEGO – Shortly after Aaron Judge ’s batting average fell to .197 on May 2, Aaron Boone fielded a question asking if it was best to keep the slugger batting third. “Yeah, we’ll see,” Boone said half-heartedly in Baltimore.
Such a change would have been drastic, especially after what the manager had said just a few moments earlier. “Somebody’s gonna pay big time,” Boone insisted. “He’ll get it going, and look out when he does.
” As of Sunday morning, Judge was hitting .423/.544/1.
056 with 12 doubles, 11 home runs and 21 RBI over 21 games since May 2. With a two-run shot in the first inning of the Yankees ’ 4-1 win over the Padres on Saturday, Judge left the yard in his fourth straight game for the third time in his career. He also hit his eighth home run in his last 13 games and 14th in his last 30.
“Just watching greatness,” said Marcus Stroman, who threw six scoreless innings on Saturday. “Sometimes you can take it for granted to be honest. But I’ll be sitting with my grandkids at some point saying I got the opportunity to play with Aaron Judge, Juan Soto and Gerrit Cole, because those are going to be three of the best players to ever play this game.
” AARON JUDGE DOES IT AGAIN! He has now homered in FOUR straight games! pic.twitter.com/oYD8h9dwi0 — MLB (@MLB) May 26, 2024 With 17 total dingers, Judge, Baltimore’s Gunnar Henderson and Houston’s Kyle Tucker were tied for the major league lead.
No one, however, had a higher slugging pe.
