Judge Stuck On 61 Severino Sharp

 

By Andrew Rosario

 

 

The New York Yankees last regular season games will have no bearing on their post season as they clinched the division last week affording them a first round. Still, Aaron Judge has been stuck on 61 home runs since tying Roger Maris’ record on September 28^th in his 155^th game. They began a 4-game series against the Texas Rangers on the road Monday night. Judge went 1-4, striking out once. He was on deck in the top of the ninth but Marwin Gonzalez popped up to end the inning as boos rained down from the Texas fans.

 

In his last 12 games, Judge is batting .235, 1 home run, 18 walks and 15 strikeouts. Opposing pitchers have been going at him with well-placed fast balls and off-speed pitches. The Yankees played a double-header Tuesday and Judge was expected to be in the line both games. Said Rangers manager Tony Beasley on keeping Judge in the ballpark, “we did a nice job of keeping him at bay. He didn’t hurt us at all. I thought overall we threw the ball well.”

 

Meanwhile, Bombers starter Luis Severino, making his third start since coming off the injured list was sharp. He threw 7-innings of no-hit ball before manager Aaron Boone pulled before going out for the eighth inning. Severino made a case to Boone to stay in the game but with the playoffs right around the corner Boone was looking at the big picture. Said Severino of his conversation with Boone, “I was trying to fight him, but you can do nothing about it. “He told me ‘What you think?’ I said I’m gonna die out there. But it was not a good idea to go out there and push it to 115 pitches.”

 

The Rangers broke up what would have been a combined no-hitter when Miguel Castro came in to relieve Severino. Castro struck out Adolis Garcia before Josh Jung, hitting a paltry .195 in his rookie season, lined a base hit over shortstop. Castro closed out the 3-1 victory.

 

So, depending on what Judge and Boone agree with, Judge could have as many 12 at-bats to reach #62. Something no on in the history of the American League has done. Based on his recent at-bats, he knows the pitchers will be coming after him as they don’t want to be the one known for contributing to history.