Aaron Judge struck out three time against the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday. (Frank Franklin II, AP)
That was a bummer of a finale. Not only did Aaron Judge not make history in the final regular season home game in a 3-1 Yankees loss to the Orioles, but the Bombers bullpen raised another red flag as they head into the postseason.
The Yankees lost the three-game series to the Orioles, and finished the regular season at the Stadium 57-24.
Judge went 0-for-3 with a walk and three strikeouts Sunday. He has four games in Texas to try and break the American League single-season record, set 61 years ago by Roger Maris.
“I’d like to play every day, maybe not both doubleheader games, but we got quite a few days off after the season for the wildcard and leading up to the (AL Division Series) so that’s when that’s when I’ll kind of rest right there,” Judge said.
In the first, Judge got ahead 2-0, but Orioles right-hander Kyle Bradish battled back and got him looking at an 89-mile an hour slider. In the second, with the bases loaded and two outs Bradish got ahead 0-2 and thought he had him on a checked swing at 2-2. First base umpire Dan Merzel gave Judge another chance and Bradish finished him off with a curveball that Judge swung and missed at. In the fifth with one on and no outs, Judge worked a five-pitch walk.
That walk extended Judge’s on-base streak to 30 games. Judge is hitting .398 with 12 home runs and 21 RBI during that span. In the seventh, Bryan Baker got Judge to swing through an 87-mph curveball, a 99-mph fastball and struck him out on a 98-mph fastball.
“No pressure, no pressure. It’d be nice to hit it at home and do something special like that for the home fans, but at the end of the day I got a job to do,” Judge said. “I got at bats getting ready for the postseason, so you know, it didn’t happen but this season is not over yet.”
Judge is 7-of-30 with one homer in ten games since hitting his 60th homer on September 20 against the Pirates.
“Obviously, that would have been amazing, but, I mean, you said it’s really hard to hit a home run,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of Judge getting the record on the last regular-season game at Yankee Stadium. “So, especially hard when the circumstances are, just a little odd around it all. You know, where we are in the season and so a lot of things have to sync up for even the greatest of the great to go deep. So, obviously it would have been great here but we move on.”
The Yankees offense reflected the cold and dreary weather Sunday. They scored their only run on a Bradish wild pitch and Adley Rutschman throwing error in the fifth inning.
In the eighth, Ron Marinaccio left with right shin soreness, which he said has been bothering him since at least July. He will have an MRI and CT scan.
“We got a bunch of tests on MRI and CT earlier in the year and everything was fine.” Marinaccio said. “So we’re going to retest that and hopefully, nothing comes back. I’m pretty confident that there’ll be a similar, maybe a day (off) and hopefully be back.”
The rookie, who has become one of the bullpen’s most reliable pieces, had cleaned up a mess left by Aroldis Chapman in the seventh, facing two batters, and got one out in the eighth. He was facing Jorge Mateo and after throwing a 1-1 pitch, he let one go wide, but at normal velocity for him. Aaron Boone popped out of the dugout with a trainer.
That is just another concern for the Yankees, whose bullpen was a big reason for their first-half success. They have lost Clay Holmes (shoulder) and Wandy Peralta (back) down the stretch. They have already been without Michael King since July.
And Chapman has to be a concern.
The Yankees former closer gave up a lead off single to Cedric Mullins and walked the bases loaded before recording his first out — a strikeout looking. The 34-year-old former closer walked in a run and Boone had to go to Marinaccio to get out of the jam. The Orioles scored another run on a Austin Hays sacrifice fly and Aaron Hicks saved two more from crossing the plate with a tremendous catch on a Terrin Vavra line drive.
()
Originally published at Tribune News Service