Aaron Judge homers twice in Yankees' win over Orioles

BALTIMORE — It only seems as if Aaron Judge homers every time he sees the Orioles.

No, really, it only seems that way.

Judge crushed two solo home runs Sunday afternoon in the Yankees’ 5-3 victory over Baltimore at Camden Yards, the continuation of a career-long trend.

Judge, who heard “MVP! MVP!” chants from the sizable contingent of Yankees fans in attendance after his eighth-inning blast gave his team a 5-2 lead, made it 11 homers in his last 18 games against the Orioles and 22 homers in his last 40 games against them.

Judge, the reigning American League MVP, has hit 37 homers against Baltimore beginning with his rookie season in 2017, his most against any opponent and the most by any major-leaguer vs. a single team in that span.

“They’ve got great pitchers that come after you and really don't back down from anybody,” Judge said of his propensity to go deep against the Orioles. “They’re going to come with their A-stuff. I'm going to try to come with my A-swing and kind of see what happens.”

Judge is hitting .364 (12-for-33) with four homers, seven RBIs and a 1.194 OPS in nine games. In 2022, when Judge hit an AL-record 62 homers, he did not hit a home run until his sixth game and had one homer, two RBIs and a .255/.340/.404  slash line  through 13 games.

Nestor Cortes      only half-jokingly said of Judge: “I think last year he started the first two weeks [with one] homer and he has four now, so he might break that 62. Who knows?”

Is Judge satisfied with his April?

“No, no, no,” he said with a smile. “We’ve had quite a few missed opportunities. That's the fun of this game, you never have it figured out. You're never going to be hitting 1.000, so you’ve got to keep working and keep trying to improve.”

The Yankees (6-3) did that after dropping the first game of this series against the Orioles (4-5) on Friday night.

Judge had three hits, scored three runs and drove in two. Franchy Cordero, released by the Orioles on March 28 and signed by the Yankees a day later, had two hits, including his second homer of the series. His two-run shot in the fifth  gave the Yankees a 4-0 lead and gave him seven RBIs in four games.

Giancarlo Stanton’s RBI single in the first gave Cortes a 1-0 lead and Judge’s first homer of the day, a 416-foot rocket to center in the third, made it 2-0.

Cortes, who was charged with two runs in 5 1/3 innings and allowed  four hits and two walks with five strikeouts, was mostly terrific again in improving to 2-0 with a 2.61 ERA.   “I was attacking the zone, kind of went with my strengths that have been working for me,” he said. “Felt like they were looking inside a lot but I was able to beat them.”

Though not yet at the level of Judge when it comes to torturing the Orioles, Cortes did come into the day 3-0 with a 1.06 ERA in seven career games (five starts) against Baltimore, including one of the best-pitched games of last season for the Yankees.  He allowed one hit and two walks with 12 strikeouts in 7 1/3 innings of an 8-0 victory at the Stadium on Oct. 1.

On Sunday, Cortes departed with a 4-0 lead, runners at second and third and one out in the sixth. Anthony Santander lined Albert Abreu's first pitch into the rightfield corner for a two-run double. Abreu did strike out the next two batters, Austin Hays and Ramon Urias, swinging at sliders.

Judge’s homer in the eighth pushed the lead to three runs and Adley Rutschman’s solo homer off Jimmy Cordero in the bottom half made it 5-3. Clay Holmes struck out one in a perfect ninth for his third save in three chances, including his second in as many days.

Judge singled in the first against Baltimore righthander Tyler Wells — extending his career-best on-base streak to 42 games — and scored on Stanton’s RBI single to rightfield. Wells (0-1) allowed four runs and six hits in six innings.

Not surprisingly, Judge’s performance — both Sunday and nine games into the season — commanded most of the postgame attention.

“He’s the best player going right now,” Aaron Boone said. “Hungry and focused and doesn’t take anything for granted. That’s what greatness looks like.”