From Bryan Hoch:
The Yankees had the chance they wanted. After five innings of mostly empty at-bats, Aaron Judge came up with the bases loaded and none out, a prime opening to rewrite his postseason story.
Instead, Judge swung through a Kevin Gausman splitter for a crucial strikeout. New York settled for one run, a squandered opportunity that defined its 10-1 loss to the Blue Jays in Saturday’s Game 1 of the American League Division Series.
“I wouldn’t say I was overanxious; if you saw the whole at-bat, I definitely took some tough pitches,” Judge said. “But in the end, I didn’t get the job done. That’s what it comes down to, just not doing your job.”
Rogers Centre remains a house of horrors for the Yankees, who have lost seven of their eight games north of the border this season. Swinging early and often, the Yanks were limited to two baserunners through five frames before finally pressing Gausman with two hits and a walk.
Judge saw eight pitches, fouling off two, before chasing a diving offering low and away.
“Obviously, you’d like to come through there and break the game open,” said Cody Bellinger, who followed with a four-pitch walk that forced in New York’s only run. “It didn’t happen; Gausman came and made some good pitches.”
Judge has six hits in 15 at-bats (.400) this postseason but is still hunting for a signature October moment. Since 2019, Judge is batting .202 (34-for-168) with nine homers and 20 RBIs in the playoffs.
As noted, it feels kind of weird to be so down on the guy who’s hitting .400 in the playoffs, but when you come into a postseason with the reputation of not coming through in clutch situations, and then you strike out with the bases loaded and no outs in the sixth inning, down two runs…well, that’s not good. Nor was Giancarlo Stanton being DOMINATED by Louis Varland with the bases loaded and two outs (or Ben Rice getting sonned throughout the game).
Probably the worst part of the loss was that Boone also burned most of the bullpen in this one, meaning that Max Fried is going to have to pitch into, like, at least the seventh inning in this one for the Yankees to have a chance (as then I assume Tim Hill and/or Fernando Cruz might be available, and then Williams and Bednar will be available late).
Today’s game obviously will tell you the tale of the series. Kevin Gausman has historically dominated the Yankees. Trey Yesavage has never faced them before, and has pitched, like, five games TOTAL, Shane Bieber is coming off a MAJOR injury, and I imagine Game 4 will just be a bullpen game by Toronto. The Yankees SHOULD be able to score some runs off of those guys, but at the same time, Max Fried, Carlos Rodon, AND Cam Schlittler have all had total BOMBS of games against Toronto this season, so it might not matter.
Time, as they say, will tell.
Featured image is Judge’s K.