'Another Judgie moment' in dramatic 9th, but Yanks fall in chaotic 10th

BOSTON – The Yankees were two outs from defeat Friday night, and Aaron Judge needed a new bat. Rifling through the weathered rack in the damp Fenway Park visitors’ dugout, the Yankees’ captain pulled 35 inches of fresh lumber and hoped to reverse fortunes against Garrett Crochet, the left-handed ace who’d owned his number to that point.

Judge had struck out in his first three at-bats against Crochet, but this time he connected, launching a full-count offering over the Green Monster for a one-out game-tying blast. The showdown was truly cinematic, loaded with drama – and yet it went to waste in a 2-1, 10-inning loss to the Red Sox.

“What I was thinking and trying to do wasn’t working, so you’ve got to make an adjustment,” Judge said. “That’s what this game is.”

That adjustment powered Judge’s 26th home run of the season, which soared onto Lansdowne Street and earned him a share of the Major League lead with the Mariners’ Cal Raleigh. Carlos Narváez, who’d end the night with a walk-off hit, called it: “Probably the best pitcher right now against the best hitter in baseball.”

A matchup worthy of buying a ticket for, by itself. But once the game entered extras, chaos followed and the night unraveled.

Anthony Volpe opened the 10th as an automatic runner and soon bolted for third base, sliding in head-first. He was initially ruled safe, but the call on the field was overturned by review; replays showed Volpe’s hand briefly bounced off the bag. The Yanks had no argument there.

Manager Aaron Boone said he was OK with the decision to send Volpe.

“Oh, hell yeah. You’re not?” Boone said. “You see Anthony steal third, and the only reason he’s out [is] because he kind of gets caught on the slide where he doesn’t extend.”

Tempers flared one batter later, resulting in Boone’s ejection – and the first of DJ LeMahieu’s career. Facing Garrett Whitlock, LeMahieu sliced a first-pitch sinker down the right-field line, a ball immediately waved foul by first-base umpire Jeremie Rehak.

The Yanks’ video crew saw otherwise. Boone would say “a quarter of the ball” kissed chalk. With a challenge, the decision was sent to New York; if overturned, the field umpires would have had discretion to place LeMahieu at second base with a double.

Instead, the call stood – no hit, no runner, just a continuing at-bat. Boone howled, hurled a wad of gum and was tossed.

“A fair ball down the line that they miss in real time and don’t have the courage to overturn,” Boone snarled.

Outbursts like that seem commonplace for Boone, especially when compared to the stoic LeMahieu. Noting that he’d said far worse to umpires over his career, LeMahieu seemed baffled about which of the magic words got him thumbed.

“I just said, ‘That’s a brutal call,’” LeMahieu said. “And he said, ‘What’d you say?’ And I was like, ‘That was brutal.’ And that was it.”

Judge said he knew a LeMahieu ejection “was coming at some point,” adding: “For good reason on that one. That’s a fair ball.”

Narváez ended the night with a walk-off hit facing Tim Hill, the fourth walk-off celebration the Yanks have witnessed on the losing side this season. At two hours and 57 minutes, it was hardly a long game by Yankees-Red Sox standards, but the Judge-Crochet matchup stretched the storyline over a week’s time – and all the way back to the Bronx.

When these two clubs faced each other last week at Yankee Stadium, Judge also struck out three times against Crochet, who has dominated plenty of lineups league-wide this season. The three on Friday meant that Judge went into his ninth-inning at-bat with six straight strikeouts against the lefty this season.

Crochet’s dominant 8 1/3-inning effort earned manager Alex Cora’s trust that he’d finish the job, but to do so, he’d have to get through the American League’s reigning Most Valuable Player.

“It’s tough when you’re looking at scouting reports and the whole thing is bright red,” Crochet said.

The count ran full. Crochet heaved a 99.6 mph fastball low and in. Judge clobbered it – 115.5 mph off the bat, and a Statcast-projected 443 feet out of Fenway and off toward the Citgo sign. It was Judge’s second career game-tying homer in the ninth inning or later (also May 23, 2023, off Baltimore’s Félix Bautista).

Boone said the ball was “demolished,” calling Judge “the best player in the world.” Ryan Yarbrough, who started this game long before the madness, said, “Judgie does what Judgie does.” Cora marveled: “He got one pitch down the whole night and hit it out of the ballpark.”

LeMahieu called it “just another Judgie moment,” authoring a would-be signature night worthy of celebration. But Boston grabbed the moment that counted most.

“Nothing we could do,” Judge said. “Just got to keep staying aggressive, trying to make a play happen. [The calls] didn’t go our way, but you can’t hang your hat on that. We had nine other innings to make something happen and score some runs.”