Aaron Judge broke Statcast and helped start an epic Yankees comeback
If you turned off Friday’s Orioles-Yankees game during the middle innings, you missed a stunning display of resilience and power as the Bronx Bombers rallied from an eight-run deficit to win 14-11 in 10 innings.
In total, the Yankees hit five home runs during their comeback. That included Starlin Castro’s game-tying two-run homer in the ninth, and Matt Holliday’s three-run walk-off blast in the 10th. Prior to that, Jacoby Ellsbury provided a critical grand slam and Aaron Judge hit not one home run, but two. One of which broke a Statcast record.
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Judge started the barrage on Friday, rifling a long solo home run to left field in the fifth inning. That trimmed the lead to 5-1 at that point.
In the next half inning, Baltimore’s Mark Trumbo launched a grand slam that made it 9-1 and seemingly put the game away. That was, until Judge went yard again for a two-run shot in the bottom half to cut the lead to 9-4.
But this wasn’t just any home run. At 119.38 mph off the bat, it was the hardest hit homer measured during the Statcast era.
The ruling is in:
At 119.38 mph exit velocity, @TheJudge44's blast is the hardest-hit homer of the #Statcast era. https://t.co/db0oRFstBI— #Statcast (@statcast) April 29, 2017
Step aside, Giancarlo Stanton. Here comes “The Judge.”
Judge’s second really put the comeback in motion. After Baltimore scored two more in the seventh, the Yankees battled back again to load the bases. That’s when Ellsbury unloaded them with a home run that served as two milestones in his career.
Jacoby Ellsbury's first career grand slam is also his 100th career home run. #yankees
— Yankees PR Dept. (@YankeesPR) April 29, 2017
By now you could see this game moving closer to a dramatic conclusion. Then Castro clinched it with his game-tying home run in the ninth against Orioles’ fill-in closer Brad Brach.
The only question that remained at that point was how the Yankees would win it, not if. Veteran Holliday answered that one with an emphatic swing, connecting for a three-run walk-off homer that set off a wild celebration.
According to ESPN Stats & Info, this was Holliday’s third career walk-off home run. He has one each with the Rockies, Cardinals and now the Yankees, and the 10-year anniversary of his first is Saturday.
It’s anybody’s guess if the Yankees pitching will hold up. But man, the lineup is a lot of fun thanks to its mix of young and old sluggers. If nothing else, they’re going to make opponents work hard to record 27 outs.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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