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Try it freeNumbers rarely do justice to the performances displayed on the field, the figures often unable to quantify what is an art.
But sometimes those numbers capture the moment, and this might be one of those times: Through 18 games, Aaron Judge is hitting an MLB-best .409 with an MLB-best 1.322 OPS and an AL-best 21 RBIs.
The Yankees captain authored a historic season in 2022, one-upped himself in 2024 and is threatening to do it again, his latest feat of strength lugging the club on his back and providing the tiebreaking home run in a 4-3 win to complete a sweep of the Royals in front of 43,720 in The Bronx on Wednesday night.
The best hitter in the game — just ask Juan Soto — stepped up to the plate four times and reached four times, his largest at-bat the one that decided the game.
In the seventh inning of a tie game, Judge saw a sinker from John Schreiber that cut across the plate and demolished it into the bullpen in right-center for his seventh homer of the season.
Mid-April is too soon for pace calculators, but if extrapolated he would be on track for 63.
That blast would be enough because Clarke Schmidt encouraged and Mark Leiter Jr. and Fernando Cruz were excellent over 3 ¹/₃ innings.
Only Cruz was touched, allowing a single and a walk, but right fielder Cody Bellinger notched a save himself by making a diving catch to retire MJ Melendez and keep the would-be tying run from scoring.
The Yankees (11-7) finished a 4-2 homestand before leaving for Tampa (and Steinbrenner Field) and then Cleveland.
The Yankees had surged to a lead thanks to a couple bats that have been as cold as this unusually frigid April. Entering play,
Anthony Volpe and Bellinger had combined to go 5-for-47 with 19 strikeouts with three RBIs since April 7.
Which is part of the reason the club was happy to see the pair match that RBI total in four innings.
In the third, Judge doubled, Jazz Chisholm Jr. walked and Volpe smacked a two-run double to put the Yankees in front.
An inning later, Bellinger grounded a two-run double that snuck inside the first base line to drive in Oswald Peraza.
Schmidt was solid through 5 ²/₃ innings — a not insignificant length for a pitcher who had built up only to four innings and 61 pitches in his rehab assignment and who joined a team that has received little from its rotation.
The righty allowed three runs on four hits and two walks with a pair of strikeouts.
He started slowly and did not end smoothly but was strong in the middle.
The Royals scored in the first, when Bobby Witt Jr. singled before Salvador Perez rifled an RBI double down the left field line.
But Schmidt settled and was efficient — finishing with 73 pitches — and only encountered trouble again in the fifth.
In a game the Yankees led by two, Drew Waters singled, Kyle Isbel drilled a triple into right-center and a groundout from Jonathan India plated two.
That would conclude the scoring until the seventh.
With the reigning AL MVP runner-up in Bobby Witt Jr. standing at shortstop, the reigning AL MVP reminded of the pecking order.