As Aaron Judge came to the plate in the bottom of the fifth with DJ LeMahieu and Gio Urshela on the corners, a wild pitch from Toronto pitcher Marcus Stroman sent Urshela racing toward home plate. Blue Jays catcher Danny Jansen scrambled for the ball and reached too high on Urshela, who extended his left leg in an attempt to beat the tag.
Home plate umpire Ryan Blakney called Urshela out.
But Aaron Boone knew he was safe. Judge and Urshela knew it, too.
The Yankees challenged the play and it was quickly overturned, giving them a 3-2 lead just after the Blue Jays had tied it in the top half of the inning.
“I haven’t seen anything like that in a while,” Judge said following the 4-2 win Sunday. “He kind of snuck his left foot in there, but I had a good front-row seat of it, and right when I saw him slide I thought he got that foot in. Challenge the play and that’s the ballgame right there.”
Jansen said he was caught off guard, and Stroman was impressed with Urshela’s ability to avoid the tag.
Urshela simply thought, “I’ve got to do something to make it safe.”
Boone wasn’t surprised as he’s been watching Urshela’s immeasurable effort for the past 91 games, and he joined Judge in saying the Yankees might not be where they are — six games ahead of second-place Tampa Bay in the AL East — without the third baseman.
Urshela went 2-for-4 Sunday, knocking in the first two runs of the game on a ground single to left field in the bottom of the second. The 27-year-old is now hitting .362 with 30 RBIs with runners in scoring position.
“I know when he came over here last year, he did some really good things down in Triple-A toward the end of the year. But I think it’s a lot of Gio, too, really on his own,” Boone said in response to how the organization has affected Urshela’s play. “When he was coming up through the minor leagues, he was always a guy that made good contact, which can be a really good sign and sometimes takes a while to blossom.
“I’m sure there’s a lot of people that have followed his minor league career that aren’t surprised that he’s starting to swing the bat now at the major league level.”
Boone is confident in Urshela’s progress, noting that hitting coaches Marcus Thames and P.J. Pilittere have worked well with him. And with the adjustments he has made, Boone believes Urshela has gone to another level as a major league hitter.
