Aaron Judge homers again as Yankees take 3 of 4 from Blue Jays

TORONTO — The eyes have it.

Aaron Judge’s specifically.

The Yankees captain, whose eyes became front and center in this series when the Blue Jays contacted Major League Baseball about Judge glancing toward his dugout during an eighth-inning at-bat Monday, hit a two-run homer in the first inning Thursday night, helping lift his club to a 4-2 victory in front of 33,290 at Rogers Centre.

It gave Judge six homers in his last six games, including four home runs in the four games in Toronto in which the Yankees (26-20) won three. He just missed a fifth homer in the series, settling for a double in the sixth inning when he hammered one off the very top of the wall in right-center.

“I was upset but there’s nothing I can do about that,” Judge said of the insinuation he had done something illegal. “I still have to go out there and play.”

Of the overall craziness of the series, Judge, who has 12 homers this season, said: “We were focused on what we can control between the lines. We did a pretty good job blocking out all the noise and distraction the whole series. Went out there and took care of our business.”

Judge overshadowed, though not completely, an outstanding start by Nestor Cortes. The lefty allowed two runs, five hits and one walk over six-plus innings in which he struck out seven. Then there was the terrific work by a patchwork bullpen that was without Michael King, Clay Holmes, Jimmy Cordero and Wandy Peralta because of extensive use the first three games.   

“We called that Nestor and the Funky Bunch tonight,” Aaron Boone said with a smile of the work done by Ryan Weber, Albert Abreu and Ron Marinaccio.

The trio combined for three scoreless innings, with Marinaccio picking up his first career save with a 1-2-3 ninth.

“The heartbeat’s a little bit quicker but you just try to take it one out at a time and put up a zero,” said Marinaccio, who received a two-run cushion from Anthony Volpe’s seventh homer of the season in the top of the ninth.   

Aaron Hicks had three hits, including a two-out RBI single in the seventh that made it 3-1.

Cortes, now 4-2 with a 5.21 ERA, was 0-2 with an 8.53 ERA in his previous four outings. He felt the key Thursday was the effectiveness of his fastball-cutter-slider combo and his ability to “control the top of the zone."

Cortes departed after a leadoff walk issued to Whit Merrifield in the seventh and Boone called on Weber, a soft-throwing righty whose fastball rarely touches 90. The reliever, who threw 2 1/3 scoreless innings in Tuesday night’s victory, loaded the bases with none out, bringing up Brandon Belt, who flied to short left. Vlad Guerrero Jr., who left Tuesday’s game with a knee injury and did not play Wednesday, pinch hit for Santiago Espinal and the first baseman delivered a sacrifice fly to center to make it 3-2. The dangerous George Springer flied to center to end the threat.  

“It’s just who I am, laid back,” Weber said of an even-keeled demeanor mentioned by Boone and his teammates. “I don’t throw hard, so I kind of have the same persona as how I pitch.”

All of it capped a highly entertaining series that had playoff intensity, and the teams won’t see each other again until Sept. 19 when the Blue Jays visit the Stadium.

Mostly missing from Thursday’s game were the shenanigans from the first two games, though in the fifth inning Boone could be seen yelling across the field at Pete Walker in the home dugout. The Blue Jays pitching coach verbally went after Yankees third base coach Luis Rojas during Tuesday’s game and apparently did so Thursday. “He was yelling at [Rojas] again,” Boone said, not hiding his irritation. “I’m glad we’re leaving.”

The Blue Jays likely feel the same.

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.