With Yankee Stadium hosting Superman Night on Friday, Aaron Judge looked the part — in cardboard boxes and the batter’s box.
The Yankees celebrated the Man of Steel by giving a Superman-themed Judge bobblehead to the first 18,000 people who walked through the door. Those same fans then saw Judge show off his otherworldly strength in the Yankees’ 5-3 loss to the Orioles, as his solo home run off Tomoyuki Sugano in the third inning broke a 2-2 tie.
Judge now has 27 homers this season. Only Seattle’s Cal Raleigh has more with 29.
The evening — complete with 3 Doors Down’s “Kryptonite” blasting through the loudspeakers mid-game — also saw Judge collect two singles and an intentional walk. While he struck out against Félix Bautista in the ninth, Judge had previously been 3-for-27 with 16 punchouts over his last eight games. Despite the rut, the Yankees reasonably spent the past week unconcerned over the reigning MVP’s first slump of the year.
“I have no worry about him,” Yankees hitting coach James Rowson said earlier in the week. “I don’t think he’s worried about it at all.”
While the Yankees were happy to see Judge put his funk behind him, Ramón Urías spoiled the Bombers’ night and Luke Weaver’s return from a hamstring injury with a go-ahead, solo home run in the eighth inning.
Weaver had previously allowed just two home runs this season, but Urías, a low-key Yankee killer, took advantage of the Bronx’s short right field porch and sent a fastball over the glove of a leaping Judge. He was Weaver’s first at-bat of the night.
Tim Hill then inherited two runners from Weaver before Gunnar Henderson drove in an insurance run with a single.
While the last-place Orioles rallied late, Max Fried put the first-place pinstripers in an immediate hole, as ex-Yankee Gary Sánchez picked up a two-run single in the first after the lefty hit two batters and loaded the bases. Fried needed 29 pitches to get through the first, but the only other run he allowed came on a Coby Mayo single in the sixth inning.
That knock prompted a mound visit from Aaron Boone. Fernando Cruz, thinking he had been summoned, began running in from the bullpen, but Fried talked his way into finishing the frame.
Fried also totaled seven hits, zero walks, seven strikeouts and 105 pitches.
Sugano also struggled out of the gate, as Jazz Chisholm Jr. had an RBI single in the first before Jasson Domínguez lofted a sac fly.
Having dropped the series-opener, the Yankees have now lost seven of their last eight games. Their offense broke out for seven runs in Thursday’s win over the Angels, but Friday marked another light night for a lineup that had to snap a 30.1-inning scoreless streak earlier in the week.
The Yankees will try to avoid another series loss on Saturday when Clarke Schmidt takes the mound. Fellow right-hander Zach Eflin will start for the O’s.
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