Aaron Judge, two games after he finished a record, 62-home-run season, heard boos in The Bronx.
The Yankees superstar, who carried the club all season, struggled to begin the ALDS. In his first eight plate appearances against the Guardians, Judge went 0-for-7 with seven strikeouts and a walk.
After Judge’s fourth strikeout of Game 2 on Friday afternoon, when he went down swinging against former Yankees prospect Trevor Stephan, he retreated to the dugout to a general murmur and a few scattered boos. At the time, the Yankees and Guardians were knotted at 2-2 in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Aaron Judge heard boos from the Yankee Stadium crowd after his seventh strikeout of the ALDS. Charles Wenzelberg / New York PostEntering the series, Cleveland pitching coach Carl Willis said his team would “attack” Judge without being “stupid.” Through 16 innings, the pitching against the front-runner for the American League MVP had been excellent.
Friday, Cleveland starter Shane Bieber struck out Judge three times, twice swinging and once on a called strike three that appeared low. In the seventh, Stephan, who went from the Yankees to the Guardians in the 2020 Rule 5 draft, used a splitter that Judge swung through.
