Yankees’ Aaron Judge continues surge with HR, Nestor Cortes remains dominant at home in win over White Sox
Aaron Judge continues to make his early-season slump a very, very distant memory.
The Yankees slugger smashed another home run during Friday night’s 4-2 win over the Chicago White Sox in the Bronx, giving him seven extra-base hits over his last three games.
The first inning solo shot against Chicago starter Mike Clevinger jumped off Judge’s bat at 114.4 mph and traveled 433 feet before landing in the second deck in the left-field stands. Judge’s 12 home runs this season are one behind the MLB lead.
Judge also walked three times — including once intentionally — and scored twice during Friday’s 1-for-1 performance, which boosted his season average to .267.
That average sat at .197 through 33 games. Judge had 12 extra-base hits at that point. In the 13 games since, Judge has gone 20-for-43 (.465) with 15 extra-base hits, including six home runs.
Judge said he didn’t allow himself to feel frustrated during his slow start and attributes his recent surge to “just not missing the ball.”
“If I’m sitting here worried about my struggles and how I’m doing, that’s taking away from the team,” Judge said after Friday’s win. “It’s about going out there and winning games, so if you’re not hitting, if things aren’t going your way, you have to find other ways to help the ballclub.”
Judge went 4-for-4 with three doubles and a homer in Wednesday’s win over the Minnesota Twins. He followed that up with two more doubles Thursday to help complete a sweep in Minneapolis.
“More than anyone I’ve ever been around, you can’t tell when he’s on this kind of roll or if he’s had a series where he’s had real struggles,” manager Aaron Boone said of Judge. “Can’t tell by his interactions with the club. Testament to who he is.”
“You’re gonna have stretches,” Boone said. “Maybe it was a little longer stretch than we’re used to, but nothing I was really concerned about. I knew it was just about him finding his timing and rhythm. Certainly, he’s found that.”
Judge’s offense on Friday came in support of Nestor Cortes, who continued his season-long dominance at Yankee Stadium by limiting light-hitting Chicago to one unearned run over seven innings.
The left-hander struck out six and surrendered five hits to the White Sox, who own the lowest batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage among the 30 MLB teams and have scored the fewest runs.
Cortes boasts a 1.27 ERA in 35.1 innings at home this season, compared to a 6.75 ERA over 25.1 innings outside of the Bronx. It’s an extreme split Cortes says he’s working to get to the root of.
Cortes has now delivered three starts of at least seven innings without an earned run at Yankee Stadium this year. Friday’s gem came on the 26th anniversary of fellow lefty David Wells’ perfect game at Yankee Stadium.
Friday marked the fifth consecutive game — or a full turn through the rotation — that a Yankees starter pitched at least six innings and allowed one run or fewer.
“It’s almost like we’re in competition with each other,” Cortes said. “We’re not, but we’re just trying to give as much length as possible. The last game we lost was the [May 11] game I pitched in Tampa, so I made sure today wasn’t the day we lost again.”
Those stellar starts coincide with the Yankees’ five-game winning streak, which has boosted their record to an American League-best 31-15. The White Sox fell to 14-31.
Judge was hardly the only Yankee to pound Chicago pitching. Five of the Yankees’ nine hits registered an exit velocity of at least 102.6 mph. Those included Giancarlo Stanton’s fourth-inning RBI double (106.5 mph) and sixth-inning solo home run (116.2 mph).
The 417-foot blast was Stanton’s 10th home run of the season.
Friday’s win kicked off a seven-game homestand, which continues Saturday afternoon with Luis Gil (4-1, 2.51 ERA) set to start for the Yankees and Brad Keller (0-1, 2.84) slated to pitch for Chicago.
