Aaron Judge, Marcus Stroman stay hot as Yankees defeat Padres, 4-1
Aaron Judge hit another home run and Marcus Stroman breezed through six scoreless innings as the Yankees shut down the Padres for the second consecutive game, 4-1, on Saturday night in San Diego.
Saturday was the 12th time a Yankee starter pitched at least six scoreless innings, which is the most in MLB. Yankees starter did that only 11 times in 2023.
Here are the takeaways
-Judge continued his hot hitting with a two-run shot in the first to give the Yanks a 2-0 lead. He launched a Dylan Cease curveball that had way too much plate 429 feet. It's Judge's fourth straight game with a home run.
Judge finished 2-for-4 with the home run and a double.
-Stroman was on his game again. After going 7.1 innings of one-run ball in his last start, the 33-year-old pitched six shutout innings against the Padres on Saturday night.
Stroman located his pitches and struck out batters when he needed to. The veteran right-hander's most impressive inning was in the fourth inning when Jake Cronenworth led off with a triple. Stroman got Manny Machado, and David Peralta to pop out to left field and Jackson Merrill to strike out swinging unfazed.
Stroman went six innings (91 pitches/64 strikes) giving up just three hits and one walk while striking out five batters. Over his last three starts, Stroman has given up just one run in 19.1 innings.
-In relief, Luke Weaver pitched two innings but gave up a solo shot to Fernando Tatis Jr. in the eighth to end a 26.1-inning scoreless streak.
Clay Holmes pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to pick up his 15th save.
-Crew chief Bill Miller was behind the plate and both teams were unhappy with his strike zone. Miller is notorious for being pitcher-friendly but he was giving pitchers low, high and away pitches. Both dugouts could be heard chipping at Miller and Juan Soto took it a step further by voicing it during an at-bat in the third inning. Soto struck out to end the inning and the two would continue their conversation at home plate, causing Aaron Boone to run interference before his outfielder was ejected.
Soto finished 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
-Anthony Volpe extended his hitting streak to 18 games with a first-pitch single to start the game. He has the longest active streak in the majors. He finished 2-for-5 with a run scored. The other two Yankees runs came off an Anthony Rizzo single and a Gleyber Torres sac fly in the fourth inning.
Game MVP: Marcus Stroman
While Judge and the other Yankees scored the runs, Stroman going six shutout innings helped his team feel like they were in control although they scored just four runs.
Highlights
What's next
The Yankees look for the series sweep on Sunday when they take on the Padres at 4:10 p.m.
Clarke Schmidt (5-2, 2.59 ERA) will be on the mound. The Padres will send out Joe Musgrove (3-4, 5.93 ERA).
