Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez hit monumental homers in Yankees ALDS Game 2 win
A healthy Aaron Judge and a healthy Gary Sanchez make for a dangerous combination.
In Game 2 of the American League Division Series, both men looked healthy and proved very dangerous combining for three home runs in the New York Yankees 6-2 win against the Boston Red Sox.
Both Judge and Sanchez missed long stretches during the season’s second half with injuries. Judge only returned right near the end of the regular season after missing nearly two months with a broken wrist. There are no lingering concerns about the wrist now though after Judge joined elite Yankees company by homering in his third straight game to begin the postseason.
Only two other Yankees throughout their storied history can make that claim.
According to @ESPNStatsInfo, with that first-inning homer, Aaron Judge is the third Yankee to homer in each of his team's first three postseason games. (Hank Bauer did it in 1958, Johnny Mize did it in 1952).
— Coley Harvey (@ColeyHarvey) October 7, 2018
All Rise
Judge took Red Sox starter David Price deep in the first inning in Game 2, giving the Yankees an early 1-0 lead.
Absolutely demolished. #AllRise pic.twitter.com/CNzfTGcvco
— MLB (@MLB) October 7, 2018
Judge started his barrage with a big two-run homer in the Yankees wild-card win against the Oakland Athletics. He followed with a solo shot against Red Sox closer Craig Kimbrel in the ninth inning on Friday, which pulled the Yankees within a run. He’s among the hottest hitters playing in October.
Aaron Judge so far this postseason:
16 plate appearances
7 hits
3 homers
1 walk
2 strikeouts.— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) October 7, 2018
Judge is already up to seven career home runs in just 16 postseason games.
Gary Sanchez heats up
In the second inning, Gary Sanchez added a solo shot of his own to make it 2-0. But that was only the beginning for him.
After a fifth-inning strikeout against Red Sox reliever Ryan Brasier got a little contentious, Sanchez struck back hard in the seventh, crushing a 479-foot three-run home run completely out of Fenway Park.
479 FEET?! #Crushed pic.twitter.com/cohDCWef62
— MLB (@MLB) October 7, 2018
Longest postseason HRs in four years of Statcast:
491 ft — Willson Contreras (2017)
479 ft — Gary Sanchez (tonight)
459 ft — Kyle Schwarber (2015)— Andrew Simon (@AndrewSimonMLB) October 7, 2018
Sanchez is a hitter the Yankees would love to see heat up in October. He was mostly a non-factor during the regular season, hitting just .186 with 18 homers. Granted, he was never really one-hundred percent. He might not be full strength now either, but he’s at least continued holding up his end at Fenway Park.
Gary Sanchez has loved him some Fenway Park in his career:
20 games
10 homers
6 doubles— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) October 7, 2018
The series will move to New York on Monday for a pivotal Game 3. It will be interesting to see then if Sanchez is poised to breakout.
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