NEW YORK — Whenever Aaron Judge and Juan Soto hit home runs in a game, good things happen for the Yankees. That was the case Wednesday night in a 7-3 victory over the Athletics at Yankee Stadium.
With the victory, the Yankees are 8-1 when either Judge or Soto hits a home run. It also marked the first time Judge and Soto hit a home run in the same game for the Bronx Bombers.
How does manager Aaron Boone feel when Judge and Soto are firing on all cylinders — and in the same game?
“I feel warm and fuzzy inside. Kind of like some hot chocolate on a cold day,” Boone joked after the game. “It was great. I don’t think it will be the last time those two will homer together.”
Judge, who was hitting .180 before the game, smoked the ball starting in the first inning. With Soto on first base, it looked like A’s right-hander Joe Boyle struck Judge out looking, but third-base umpire John Tumpane called a balk on Boyle, which gave Judge another chance in the batter’s box.
Judge was on his way to the dugout when Soto told Judge to get back in the batter’s box.
“It was a quick pitch,” Judge said. “I didn’t know what was going on. It was more Soto waving, ‘Hey, go back. Go back.’ The rules are the rules.”
Judge swung at the next pitch and hit a two-run homer over the right-field wall to give New York a 2-0 lead. The blast was No. 261 of his career, passing Derek Jeter for ninth place on the Yankees’ all-time home run list.
“[The home run] is special,” Judge said. “Derek had an amazing career. He has done so many great things for this organization. I hope I can do the same.”
As for Boyle, it was an outing to forget. He lasted just three innings and threw 85 pitches.
“Poor pitch selection [to Judge]. He kind of just got a free pitch that he got to see. It is what it is. You learn from it and move on,” Boyle said. “The pitch clock was running down. I probably should have stepped off. I tried to squeeze a pitch in and felt like I stopped. Obviously, [the umpire] saw differently. I haven’t watched the video yet, so I don’t really know what it looks like.”
Judge ended up going 2-for-5 in the game. But he said his swing is not back to where it should be.
