Yankees' bats stay hot with 18 more hits in rout of Brewers

MILWAUKEE — Aaron Judge had a hand in the victory.

His left one, specifically.

With the score tied in the rubber game of the Yankees’ three-game series against the Brewers on Sunday afternoon, Judge led off the sixth inning with a walk.

Alex Verdugo bounced a grounder to second and Brice Turang threw to second base to get the lead runner. Willy Adames took the throw on the bag for the forceout, but his relay to first connected with the left hand of Judge — a large hand made even larger by the oven mitt he wears for protection — as he extended his arm upward on his slide.

Brewers manager Pat Murphy argued for an interference call and a double play, but the umpires conferred and agreed with the initial call of second-base umpire Derek Thomas: Judge’s swat of the ball was incidental (though afterward, crew chief Andy Fletcher said he felt his crew was in error).

The baseball version of a blocked shot proved critical. The floodgates opened against righty reliever Abner Uribe as the Yankees sent 11 to the plate in the sixth and erupted for seven runs, leading to a 15-5 series-clinching win in front of 35,295 at American Family Field.

“That’s never happened before in my life. I’ve been sliding like that for years,” Judge said. “I was more concerned [because] Adames has a great arm, so I thought I broke my finger there . . . I slide like that. You could look back at any picture you want of me sliding into second base, it’s always happened.”

Fletcher, a big-league umpire since 1999, told a pool reporter afterward, “It appears that the call was missed.

“It should’ve been called interference because it wasn’t a natural part of his slide,” Fletcher said, though Judge clearly would disagree (as would some of the visual evidence from past Judge slides). “We did everything we could to get together and get it right. But after looking at it, it appears that it should’ve been called interference.”

The Yankees (19-10), who had 19 hits in Saturday night’s 15-3 victory, produced 18 hits Sunday. Their offense suddenly has gone full-bore as they head to Baltimore for a four-game series against the defending AL East champion Orioles (17-10).

“It’s a very potent lineup, one through nine,” Marcus Stroman, who struggled with his command in four innings-plus, said of the Yankees’ offense. “When those guys are all swinging it, it’s a very hard lineup to navigate if you’re an opposing pitcher.”

Brewers righty Tobias Myers discovered that quickly as Judge homered in the first, giving him six for the season and three in his last five games. He also had a two-run single while batting for the second time in the sixth.

Gleyber Torres, who had a three-run double in Saturday’s win, snapped a 4-4 tie in the sixth with an RBI single. Jose Trevino’s two-run single two batters later made it 7-4.

Judge finished 3-for-4 with a walk and three RBIs and Anthony Rizzo, who had three hits Saturday night after being dropped from cleanup to sixth in the batting order, went 4-for-4 with a walk and a two-run shot in the eighth that made it 15-5. It was his 300th career homer.

“It’s amazing. It’s awesome,” Rizzo said. “Milestones like this, you kind of reflect back and take time to just appreciate how hard it is and how much fun it’s been along the way. It’s a great feeling. It comes after a good two days offensively as a team. To bust out, it’s a better feeling.”

Anthony Volpe, in a 7-for-47 skid entering the day, hit a three-run homer in the fifth that made it 4-0, part of an afternoon in which he went 2-for-4 with a walk. Trevino was 2-for-4 with three RBIs.

Stroman’s outing, in which he allowed four runs, six hits and a season-high five walks, was an afterthought because of the Yankees’ offensive outburst. He took a 4-0 lead into the fifth but allowed four runs, three on a homer by former Yankee Jake Bauers, and was replaced by Ron Marinaccio.

“Too many walks overall. That’s very uncharacteristic of me,” said Stroman, who threw only 44 of his 88 pitches for strikes.

But Stroman didn’t let things get away from him and the offense took it from there.

“I feel like we can break out in any innings. I feel like we can put up big runs in any situation,” he said. “So it’s a matter of our pitchers just doing a good job of limiting runs and keeping us in the game.”

Notes & quotes: Giancarlo Stanton, who hit a three-run homer off position player Owen Miller in the ninth inning on Saturday, had another chance to bat against a position player when he faced former teammate Bauers with the bases loaded and two outs in the ninth inning Sunday. He fouled out to first base on a 62.3-mph slider from Bauers, who had retired Alex Verdugo on a fly to shallow right on a 58.8-mph slider for the second out.