Yankees beat Giants as Aaron Judge homers twice, drives in four runs

SAN FRANCISCO — Aaron Judge had been looking forward to this one for a while.

A lifetime, even.

The Yankees centerfielder, who grew up about 1 ½ hours east of here in Linden, California, had never played a big-league game at Oracle Park, home of the Giants, the team Judge rooted for as a child.

Judge made his debut in the majors in 2016 but was hurt the last time the Yankees played here in 2019.

Adding to Friday’s narrative was the fact that the Giants very nearly signed him as a free agent after the 2022 season.

Perhaps it was that close call — and all it would have meant for the Giants' franchise — that inspired loud boos each time Judge stepped to the plate Friday night.

He responded  with two home runs and punctuated what already had been a historic month with an emphatic exclamation point.

Judge hit a  394-foot three-run shot in the third inning that gave the Yankees the lead for good and added a 426-foot blast to centerfield in the sixth in a 6-2 victory over the Giants in front of 35,018.

“You dream about it in the backyard, playing around a little bit,'' Judge said. "Kruk and Kuip [Giants broadcasters Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper], I’ve heard them for years call the games, hear all the homers that Barry [Bonds] hit here. So pretty cool . . . It’s a special place. Grew up a Giants fan, loved coming to games out here, so pretty cool being on the opposite side now.”

He added: “I didn’t hit any home runs in BP, so I was a little nervous. Barry and a lot of those guys back in the day made it look pretty small at times.”

The homers gave Judge an MLB-leading 20. He entered May 5 with six homers in 35 games and then hit 14 in a span of 83 at-bats in 24 games. Entering the night, Judge was hitting .355 with a .479 on-base percentage and 1.350 OPS in May.

Not surprisingly, the Yankees, coming off a good April, raised their level of play even more so behind Judge, going 21-7 in May to move to 40-19.

“The fact that we’re in May, and all the questions about the slow start, and you look up there and the season he’s having,” Aaron Boone said Thursday after watching Judge hit his 12th homer of the month in an 8-3 victory over the Angels in Anaheim. “Just a special player doing special things.”

He added after Friday's game:  “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t at least looking forward to seeing what he did today.'' 

With Thursday’s homer, Judge became the second player in franchise history to hit at least 12 doubles and 12 homers in a calendar month (joining Lou Gehrig, who did it in July 1930).

“He’s pretty good, wouldn’t you say?” Thursday’s winning pitcher, Carlos Rodon, said with a half-smile. “That’s why he’s the captain.”

Judge’s three-run shot in the third off Jordan Hicks, who came into the night 4-1 with a 2.33 ERA, gave Marcus Stroman a 3-1 lead. Judge’s second homer of the night, off Hicks in the sixth, made it 4-1.

The Yankees scored two more runs on a wild play later in the inning. A passed ball charged to Patrick Bailey allowed Gleyber Torres to score, and an error by pitcher Taylor Rodgers — who might have had a play at the plate if he had caught the ball — allowed Anthony Rizzo to come around from second and score easily.

Stroman allowed two runs, six hits and two walks in 7 1/3 innings, matching his season high, and improved to 5-2 with a 2.76 ERA.

Judge, meanwhile, has more than put his poor April in the rearview mirror, ending the night hitting .282 with an MLB-leading 45 walks and 1.056 OPS  to go with the 20 home runs.

Alex Verdugo used the word “crazy” to describe Judge’s rebound month, and not just because of the numbers (though, of course, they’re a big part of it).

“It was more of the consistency of barrels and how hard he hits the ball in every direction,” Verdugo said. “That’s what it is for me. He was hitting balls 105 [mph] oppo [opposite field], 115 pull side, 112 up the middle. He’s hitting balls real hard everywhere. Not only that, but also the way he controls his at-bats each and every time and really swings at what he wants. For me, very, very hard to do in a month. Some people, it’s almost their whole season.”

Said Stroman: “He’s incredible. It’s hard to put into words, but it definitely gives the whole team a little bit of momentum, a little bit of motivation when he continues to keep going off. He’s definitely doing his part, so it just makes everybody else want to do more. He’s definitely locked in.”

The person least impressed with Judge’s month of May?

That would be Judge, which has been the case with the outfielder when it comes to any of his accomplishments ever since he debuted in August 2016.

“Good month,” he allowed Thursday of his work in May. “Let’s try to repeat it next month.”

Notes & quotes: The Yankees and Mets, who rarely have been trade partners over the years for all of the obvious reasons, swung a minor deal Friday, with the Yankees sending catcher Luis Torrens to Queens for $100,000 . . . Among the members of the four-man umpire crew in this series is Hunter Wendlestedt, who ejected Boone five pitches into a game against the A’s on April 22 at the Stadium. Wendlestedt, the plate umpire, threw him out because of something yelled by a fan sitting directly behind Boone’s dugout position. Wendelstedt will not work the plate in this series. He was at third Friday night, meaning he’ll be at second base Saturday and at first base Sunday.

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.