'Deep thirst' Judge loses face with 10 consecutive home runs, longest this season, a timely double...NYY 3-0 CHC
Sep 07, 2024
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Judge started as the third center fielder in an away game against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on the 7th (Korea time) and recorded 1 hit, 1 RBI, 1 walk, and 1 strikeout in 3 at-bats. He contributed to the 3-0 victory with an RBI and a run, but the home run was silent again.
Judge, who hit his 50th and 51st home runs of the season in the 1st and 7th innings at home against the Colorado Rockies on the 26th of last month, has not been able to cross the fence in 12 consecutive games and 46 at-bats.
Judge, who has been on a home run-free streak for the longest time this year based on the number of games and at-bats, can hit 58.6 home runs with the Yankees 21 games left. Not only 62 home runs, the most in an AL season he set two years ago, but also 60 home runs seems arithmetically too much.
It certainly looks like he has lost his sense of hitting. He had a batting average of 0.189 (7 hits in 37 at-bats) and three RBIs, four runs, eight walks and 16 strikeouts without a home run in 10 games. It is reminiscent of the poor performance at the beginning of the season. Judge showed a serious slump with a batting average of 0.197, six homers and an OPS 725 in the first 33 games of the season until May 3.
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The Yankees won the game by scoring three runs on three hits, including Judge's timely hit, in the third inning of the 0-0. Chance at first and second base with no outs made by lead Gleyber Torres' walk, Juan Soto's right-handed hit.
Judge then took the batter's box for the second time with a ball count of 1B2S and pulled Cubs left-hander Jordan Wicks' 77.9-mile curveball into the middle of the fourth pitch, hitting a double running along the left-field line to bring Torres home. Austin Wells, the fourth batter, hit a left-handed hit, and Soto and Judge homered to widen the gap to 3-0. But then the Yankees failed to score an extra point.
Judge retired with a grounder to shortstop in the fifth inning and a swinging strikeout in the eighth inning, respectively.
Yankees starter Lewis Hill allowed one hit, two walks and seven strikeouts in six innings to become a winning pitcher and mark 13 wins (six losses) and an ERA of 3.24. Luke Weaver, who took the mound in the ninth inning with the Yankees declaring a collective finishing system, marked his first save since his big league debut in 2016 with no hits, no runs, one walk and two strikeouts in one inning.
The Yankees, who marked 81-60, maintained a 0.5 game gap with the Baltimore Orioles (82-60), the leader of the AL East.
jhno@sportschosun.com
