That was neither a bird nor a plane sailing over the right-field wall Friday night.
It was Aaron Judge’s first home run in a week, and it came amid a three-hit resurgence — on his Superman bobblehead night — despite the Yankees falling 5-3 to the Orioles at the Stadium.
Judge again showed signs of snapping what had been a 3-for-27 skid with three hits and an intentional walk — including his 27th home run of the season — in his first four plate appearances before striking out in the ninth.
“I liked his at-bats tonight,” Aaron Boone said after the game. “I thought he made a little adjustment with his hands. “Sometimes you are just a little late, get into a spot and get into that really strong position to where now you’re getting your good swing off, where you’re through the zone a lot. So it looked to me like a little adjustment with his hands. And I thought he put a lot of good swings tonight.”
No. 99 always has served as kryptonite for the Orioles.
His 48 homers in 111 career games against Baltimore represent the most by any MLB player against any opponent since Judge’s 2016 debut.
“I’m making adjustments every day. There’s so many that I can’t really narrow one,” said Judge, who claimed he still hadn’t seen the Superman bobblehead. “They have a great pitching staff, so it’s about being ready, especially in that at-bat. I took a couple of heaters that I could’ve done some damage on. … So I was really trying to lock it in and trying to make something happen there.”
The pinstriped captain had struck out 20 times in his previous 10 games to sink his batting average from .396 on June 10 to .366 entering this three-game set against the O’s.
After contributing a single to center as the Yanks scored twice in the bottom of the first to match Baltimore’s two runs in the top half against Max Fried, Judge led off the third with an opposite-field homer to right on a 2-2 fastball from Orioles starter Tomoyuki Sugano.
It marked the first time Judge has gone deep since his ninth-inning blast against Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet last Friday at Fenway Park.
Orioles manager Tony Mansolino ordered Judge walked intentionally with first base open and two outs in the fourth.
Judge also stroked a two-out single to left in the sixth, but the Yankees failed to score in either frame.
The two-time MVP struck out against Orioles closer Félix Bautista for the second out of a scoreless ninth, as the Yanks lost for the seventh time in eight games.
“He’s a tough at-bat,” Judge said. “He runs it up to 100 miles an hour with that splitter combo. It’s not a fun at-bat, but that’s who you want to face when the game’s on the line. You want to go up against the best…. He got us tonight, but I think we’ll definitely see him again [this weekend].”
