Anaheim, California (AP) Aaron Judge wrapped up one of the greatest months of his nine-year career with two home runs in his debut game at Oracle Park in San Francisco.
Aaron Judge entered his final game in May with a.355 batting average, the second highest in any month in which he has played at least 21 games, and only increased it early against the Giants on Friday night. He reached on an infield hit in the first inning, blasted a three-run homer in the third, and then a solo drive in the sixth, giving him 14 home runs and 29 RBIs this month.
Aaron Judge now leads the majors with 20 home runs this season.
That is also a significant turnaround from the beginning of the month, when Judge had a.207 average in March and April, prompting many questions about his poor start.
Aaron Judge remained calm in the face of everyone else’s concerns.
“I can’t sit there feeling sorry for myself when things aren’t going well. We still have games to play and win. “Just try to be consistent and help the team win,” he stated following Thursday night’s 8-3 victory against the Los Angeles Angels. “Every season, I have one of those months when nothing seems to be going right. It was difficult that it had to be April at the start, especially given the quality of our team and how talented we are.”
Aaron Judge had three home runs in the last two nights, becoming the only Yankees player in history to hit at least 14 home runs and 12 doubles in a calendar month. His 26 extra-base hits in May are tied for third all-time among Yankees players, following only Joe DiMaggio (31 in July 1937) and Lou Gehrig (29 in July 1930).
Aaron Judge’s 26 extra-base hits this month are only the eighth since the conclusion of WWII.
“The fact that we’re in May and all the questions about the slow start and you look up there with the season he is having, just a special player doing special things,” manager Aaron Boone said of Judge on Thursday night.
The Northern California native and former Fresno State standout, who leads the majors in slugging (.617) and OPS (1.020), expressed his excitement about playing in San Francisco for the first time.
The Giants strongly pursued Judge as a free agent in December 2022, but he chose to stay with the Yankees and negotiate a nine-year, $360 million contract.
There were numerous uncomfortable moments for the Yankees throughout that process, including an inaccurate tweet claiming that “Arson Judge” was close to signing with San Francisco. Boone said he learned about the tweet as he came out of the shower at the winter meetings and had an uncomfortable stretch until Judge decided to stay in New York the next morning.
“It wasn’t a high time for sure, but it turned the next morning,” Boone said before the Yankees faced the Giants on Friday night. “It was a stressful 24 to 30 hours for me, simply because of the uncertainty and unknown. After an hour had passed since the tweet, I thought, “I don’t think that’s true.” However, we are not hearing anything. It was definitely an anxious period. And then waking up the following morning to texts and everything from friends informing us that he was back with us was clearly a fantastic wakeup call.”
The Yankees last visited San Francisco in April 2019, but Judge was out with an oblique ailment.
He was booed heavily before his at-bats on Friday night, but he showed Giants fans what they were missing.
New York leads the AL with a 39-19 record and has won four of its six away games.
“I’ll have a lot of relatives and friends. “That will be fine,” he said. “I am excited. I missed out on playing there in 2019 and am pleased to have a chance to play a couple games there.”
AP Sports Writer Josh Dubow in San Francisco contributed to this story.
