Anthony Rizzo's HR powers Yankees' win; Aaron Judge earns first career ejection

A day after Aaron Judge sparked a ninth-inning rally to beat the Tigers, he and his Yankees teammates got their deciding  runs across much earlier in Saturday’s game. Good thing, too, because Judge wasn’t around to see the end of this 5-3 victory in the Bronx.

For the first time in his career — in his life, he would add — Judge was ejected from a game. That inaugural hook came in the seventh inning when he groused about a called third strike. He took the pitch, which appeared to catch the outside edge of the strike zone, and walked away complaining with what apparently was the wrong vocabulary. He made it about a half-dozen long strides toward the dugout before plate umpire Ryan Blakney tossed him.

“I was very surprised,” Judge said of the ejection, maintaining that he wasn’t showing anyone up. “I was kind of walking away saying my piece. I’ve said a lot worse.”

It would be easy to say that Judge was much calmer when he met with reporters shortly after the game, but he really wasn’t all that worked up to begin with. The win undoubtedly helped soothe him.

Judge called his disgruntled remarks “raw emotion” and seemed more upset that he didn’t actually see the historic ejection take place because he had his back to the plate while walking back to the dugout. He said he heard the reaction of the 45,017 in the stands, many of them providing a commentary that could have made those who heard Judge’s slip-of-the-tongue blush, and knew something had happened behind him.

Crew chief Alan Porter told a pool reporter that Judge “said something that [he] shouldn’t have said.” However, as he was not near the plate area at the time and had not conferred with Blakney, he added that he did not know exactly what that was.

It was the first time a Yankees captain has been ejected since Don Mattingly was tossed on May 13, 1994. Derek Jeter went his entire career without being thrown out of a game.

The oddity stood out in a game that, for the most part, followed a script that has become the usual order of business in the Yankees' wins this season: Combining strong pitching with short, isolated bursts of offensive pop.

Anthony Rizzo provided the big jolt to the scoreboard when he drove a  411-foot three-run homer to right with two outs n the third to give the Yankees a 5-1 lead. The Yankees had only three batters reach base in the five innings after that blast.

Judge was part of the early scoring, too. He scored the tying run in the first on Giancarlo Stanton’s two-out single and drove in the go-ahead run in that four-run third with a double to left.

Despite the isolated nature of the scoring, it was the second straight game in which the middle of the order produced enough for the Yankees to beat the Tigers. A good sign, Aaron Boone said.

“They’re all such really good players and hitters who put together some really good at-bats,” he said. “A lot of good things happening in an inning where we were finally able to put together a crooked number.”

Battling through struggles with command, winning pitcher Clarke Schmidt (3-1) had another strong start despite allowing a leadoff homer for the second straight game, as  Riley Greene hit his third pitch for a 360-foot homer to right. Schmidt allowed three runs and four hits in five innings, walking none and striking out seven.

The Tigers also scored two runs in the fourth when Juan Soto misplayed a hit into the rightfield corner that became an RBI triple for Matt Vierling. He  scored on a sacrifice fly by Colt Keith.

Caleb Ferguson relieved Schmidt to start the sixth and lasted only a third of an inning, leaving the two potential tying runs on base. Of course, it was a pitcher named Luke (Weaver) who was able to restore order to the Yankees' universe in this Star Wars-themed game. Weaver wrapped up the sixth on four pitches — a strikeout and a flyout — before providing a 1-2-3 seventh and giving the Yankees two outs in the eighth.

Clay Holmes delivered a four-out save, picking up two strikeouts and a double-play ball. He has 11 saves and hasn't allowed an earned run in 16 1/3 innings. The Yankees' bullpen has not allowed an earned run in 21 2/3 innings.

Said Weaver of the recent performances by himself and the other relievers: “Everybody likes zeros.”

Judge used to have one of those zeros in his ejection column, too. No longer.

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.