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Try it freeBOSTON — It’s been a season for the ages so far for Aaron Judge, who leads the league in virtually every offensive category and has drawn comparisons to everyone from Babe Ruth to Ted Williams and Barry Bonds.
But over three games in Boston, Judge wasn’t much of a factor outside of his one hefty swing against Garrett Crochet in the ninth inning Friday that sent that game into extra innings.
That proved to be Judge’s lone hit of the series, as he went 0-for-4 with another three strikeouts in Sunday’s 2-0 loss at Fenway Park, with the Red Sox completing the sweep.
His last chance to make another impact came in the eighth, when the Yankees had runners on first and second and one out and Garrett Whitlock entered.
The right-hander got Judge to ground into an inning-ending double play to end their only real threat of the game.
The normally ultra-disciplined Judge had a rare few games when he allowed himself to chase pitches out of the zone.
“You’ve got to swing at strikes,’’ Judge said. “It usually helps any hitter when you swing at strikes.”
He pulled a slider that was slightly outside on the double play; whiffed on a sinker that was in and down from Brayan Bello in the sixth; swung at a four-seamer that was a bit outside in the third and a cutter from Bello that was low and away in his first at-bat.
Bello and Whitlock weren’t the only ones to get Judge at Fenway Park, as he went 1-for-12 with the homer and nine strikeouts — fanning three times in each game.
“It’s hard, very hard,” Boston manager Alex Cora said of pitching to Judge. “We saw it last weekend [in The Bronx]. We saw it throughout the season. He’s so good at what he does, but we used our fastballs in the right spots and got some swings and misses. It was one of those weekends.”
During their previous series at Yankee Stadium, Judge had a pair of three-hit games.
“Throughout the years, we’ve been aggressive with him,’’ Cora said. “Sometimes he gets us [and] sometimes we do a good job with him. It’s always fun to compete against the best and, for me, he’s the best in the business right now.”
There’s no denying that, as Judge has built on what he’s done over the past several years and is bettering it so far this year.
But that doesn’t mean there won’t be bumps in the road.
Perhaps the one alarming aspect of Judge’s off weekend is that it came with much of the rest of the lineup not producing either.
“You take some hacks trying to make something happen instead of taking your walk if they’re gonna give it to you,’’ said Judge, who’s gone without a walk in four consecutive games for the first time this year.
And no one else picked him up, as no one else did anything against the Red Sox in the sweep, either. On Sunday, the Yankees finished with just five hits.
“They pitched him tough,’’ Aaron Boone said. “He had a massive hit to force extra innings the first night. That’s baseball. It’s why guys don’t hit .450 with 900 homers. You’re gonna have a weekend where they execute and they get you. … Hitting is hard. It’s hard to be perfect.”
That’s true, but the Yankees can’t afford to be overly reliant on Judge.
Without him producing, they scored just four runs in three games at Fenway against a Red Sox team that suddenly has life in the AL East.