Aaron Judge shows off glove by robbing home run, Nestor Cortes sharp as Yankees defeat Nationals
Yankees centerfielder Aaron Judge, right, celebrates his catch he made on a fly ball by Washington Nationals' Andres Chaparro for an out with left fielder Alex Verdugo (24) during the fourth inning of a baseball game, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024, in Washington. Credit: AP/Nick Wass
WASHINGTON — Aaron Judge doesn’t just hit home runs. He robs them, too.
Judge, who had hit seven long balls in the previous six games, got onto the highlight reel Monday night by scaling the left-centerfield fence at Nationals Park to steal a potential tying homer from the Nationals’ Andres Chaparro in the Yankees’ 5-2 win over Washington.
Judge, who has 51 homers this season, went 1-for-4 with a walk. His ninth-inning single was his 1,000th career hit.
So that begs the question: Is there anything Judge can’t do on a baseball field? It must be why Jazz Chisholm Jr. put a towel over No. 99’s shoulders in the dugout like a Superman cape.
“Again, he’s really good at this stuff,” Aaron Boone said. “A night they keep him in the ballpark, he takes one back from the other side. Just a little reminder of how many other things he does well.”
The Yankees were leading 2-0 in the fourth inning when Judge, about 398 feet from home plate, timed his leap perfectly to snare a drive with his glove over the top of the fence.
After his larceny, Judge fired the ball back to Gleyber Torres, who threw to first base to double off James Wood and complete a spectacular inning-ending 8-4-3 double play.
“I was pretty pumped up about that one,” Judge said.
The catch was Judge’s second outstanding play and the Yankees’ third in support of Nestor Cortes, who watched his fielders turn about 1,200 feet of rockets into three outs.
After a 1-2-3 first, Cortes was saved by his defense in the second. After Chaparro led off with a double, Keibert Ruiz sent a drive to the leftfield fence.
Alex Verdugo ran down the ball and crashed into the wall at full speed, hitting it hard with his face and right knee. He was limping, but after a visit from Boone and the trainer, he remained in the game.
“It was just a little face full of wall,” said Verdugo (three hits).
One batter later, Jose Tena hit a ball more than 400 feet to a triangle where the left and centerfield fences meet. Judge floated back and caught the ball with a leap, his broad back gently kissing the fence.
“I thought [Judge] could have waited a little longer to show me up,” Verdugo said. “Let me kind of like live in it a little bit.”
Cortes, who threw seven shutout innings in each of his previous two starts, was charged with one run in 6 2⁄3 innings. It could have been much, much different without a little help — make that a lot of help — from his friends.
“Tremendous,” Cortes said. “I don’t think I go as long in the game as I did if it wasn’t for those amazing catches that were made out there.”
Torres gave the Yankees a 1-0 lead in the first with his second leadoff homer of the season and second homer in as many games. Anthony Volpe (three hits) led off the second with a double off the centerfield wall, moved to third on a long fly to right by Chisholm and scored on a sacrifice fly to medium right by DJ LeMahieu.
More defense: After Chisholm committed two errors (bobbling and then throwing wildly on the same chopper to third), Austin Wells picked off Juan Yepez at second base for the final out of the fifth (obviously incorrect safe call on field overturned by replay).
Wells led off the sixth with his 10th home run and the Yankees also got a second “Volpe run” to make it 4-0.
Volpe singled to center and took off for second as Jacob Young bobbled the ball for an error. Volpe made it, but his helmet flew off and his head crashed into the right knee of shortstop CJ Abrams.
Volpe, who remained in the game, stole third and scored on LeMahieu’s second sacrifice fly, this one to deep left.
“He seemed fine,” Boone said. “I’m sure they’ll look at him some more here, but seemed OK.”
With runners on second and third and none out in the sixth, Cortes struck out Abrams and Dylan Crews, walked Wood to load the bases and struck out Chaparro.
Yepez ended Cortes’ scoreless streak at 20 1⁄3 innings with a 432-foot solo homer to left with one out in the seventh. Chisholm made it 5-1 in the top of the eighth with his eighth home run in 18 games as a Yankee. Young homered off Mark Leiter Jr. in the bottom of the inning.
Cortes (8-10) has allowed one run, 10 hits and two walks in 20 2⁄3 innings in his last three starts for a 0.44 ERA and a 0.58 WHIP. In his previous five starts, he gave up 24 runs, 36 hits and nine walks in 23 1⁄3 innings for a 9.26 ERA and 1.93 WHIP.
Notes & quotes: The Yankees (78-54), who have won 18 of their last 27 games, moved two games ahead of Baltimore, their largest lead since June 25 . . . Luis Gil, who left an ineffective start on Wednesday with lower back tightness, threw a bullpen session on Sunday. Boone said he isn’t sure what the next step will be for Gil or if he will be able to return when his 15-day injured list stint is up . . . The Yankees claimed speedy outfielder Duke Ellis off waivers from Seattle. Ellis, 26, could be added to the postseason roster as a pinch runner. He has stolen 51 bases in the minors in 2024.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
