With one on and one out in the bottom of the seventh inning, the 47,000 spectators at Yankee Stadium finally rose for the Judge, as Yankees captain Aaron Judge connected on his first home run of the postseason during a 6-3 Game 2 win in the ALCS over the Cleveland Guardians, a homer that was a long time coming for the heavy 2024 AL MVP favorite.
“I was excited it went out,” Judge said. “You never know on these windy, chilly nights what that ball is going to do when you hit the center here, but the ghosts were pulling out there to Monument Park, that’s for sure.”
The home run seemingly lifted the whole world’s weight off Judge’s shoulders, who entered the game hitting .133 in the 2024 postseason.
His playoff struggles have been well documented, but that wasn’t the case in Game 2 against Cleveland. In the first inning, Judge immediately came up in a big spot with men on first and third and no one out. He got under a ball and popped it up to short. However, Guardians shortstop Brayan Rocchio dropped the ball, allowing a run to score.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone thought that Judge’s swing on that pitch indicated things to come.
“The pop-up that they dropped, I thought he got a great swing off, too,” Boone said. “It’s one of those you miss. It’s that close to being a home run, but definitely good to see him put one in the seats and really give us a cushion there.”
That led to the top of the seventh inning when Judge finally connected on the home run, sending a long fly ball 414 feet that just found its way into Monument Park, sending the Yankee crowd into a relieved frenzy.
“Energy from the fans, yeah, they were loud in the beginning, kind of hit a lull there for a little bit,” Judge said. “Then, any time we score runs, this place explodes. It’s something special.
“There is nothing like it in baseball. Excited to give them something to cheer about a little bit, and then you hand it off to that bullpen to do their thing.”
Judge finished the game with three RBI, helping put the Yankees just two wins away from their first World Series appearance since 2009.
“Guys are excited, but we still know there’s a lot of work to be done,” Judge said. “We’re playing against a good Cleveland team that all year they battled, had some tough games, went through a tough series with Detroit taking it to Game 5, and came out on the other side. So a lot of work to be done. So we’re excited.”
