Aaron Judge's ability to be disciplined at plate in his return was impressive

BALTIMORE — When it comes to the subject of Aaron Judge, Aaron Judge is always the least impressed person in the room.

It's been a character trait from the time he hit a home run in his first career at-bat after getting called up in August 2016.

Such was the case again after Judge — who flied out to deep center in the first inning Saturday night, hit a 442-foot two-run homer to center in the third, singled in the fourth and singled in the sixth  — reached base three times Friday night (technically Saturday morning) in a 1-0 loss to the Orioles at Camden Yards in his long-awaited return from the injured list.

Judge, who had not stood in a big-league batter’s box since June 3 in Los Angeles — the day he suffered a right big toe sprain when he crashed into the bullpen fence in rightfield while tracking down a long drive by J.D. Martinez — finished 0-for-1 with three walks.

The 0-for-1 part came in the first inning, when Judge lined the first pitch from fire-throwing rookie righthander Grayson Rodriguez -- a 99-mph fastball -- at 104.4 mph to rightfield, where Anthony Santander made the catch.

Judge, more than antsy to get back in the lineup as the Yankees crumbled in his absence — going 19-23 without him — showed none of that in his plate appearances.

Which was a marvel to those around him.

“The discipline tonight, it’s a true sign of a great hitter, just heightened awareness of the strike zone,’’ said Gerrit Cole, who threw seven scoreless innings. “So disciplined with what he wants to swing at and what he doesn’t want to swing at. He’s obviously a tone-setter for us.”

That, of course, was not the case Friday night. The Yankees were held to four hits by Rodriguez, who threw 6 1/3 scoreless innings to nearly match Cole, and four  relievers.

Which had little to do with Judge, who, despite the long absence, did not chase a slew of pitches outside of the strike zone. Many players in his situation would have.

How was he able to see the ball so well after not seeing major-league pitching for two months?

“I got no hits, so I don’t know about how well,” Judge, who started in rightfield on Saturday night, said with a half-smile.

He quickly detoured to sending credit elsewhere, in this case south to Tampa, where he faced minor-league pitchers Tuesday and Wednesday in a pair of simulated games that told him he was ready.

“Really, a shout-out to all the guys down in Tampa. They got me ready with a couple good at-bats, we’ve got some good arms down there,” Judge said. “They really got me locked in. For me, I just try to go out there and do my job, don’t put too much pressure on myself. Just get on base the best I can and see what happens.”

Not much happened for the Yankees on Friday, though the Orioles had something to do with that. They made three spectacular defensive plays, one of which — a diving stop by Adam Frazier on Anthony Rizzo's ground smash in the eighth inning — kept the Yankees off the board. (Santander laid out to rob Anthony Volpe of an extra-base hit to begin the inning.)

But don’t think for a second that Judge’s mere presence in the lineup didn’t, and won’t continue to, have an impact.

"Every at-bat he’s up at the plate in the big leagues, he’s stressing out the pitcher, stressing out the opposing team,” Rizzo said earlier in the week.

One Oriole put it another way before Friday night’s game. “What he does,” he said of Judge, “is scare the [expletive] out of you just being there.”

Which is why Cole said that from a pitcher’s perspective, the Orioles ultimately took the prudent route in going after Judge — or not going after him.

“He’s a 70-homer threat if he plays for the whole year, so it’s one of those situations where you can’t be making mistakes, especially late,” Cole said. “He hasn’t played in two months and his ability to be disciplined and stay within himself made the opposition try to make pitches on the edge all night. Evidently, they couldn’t get them there, Judge didn’t expand, and he got on base for us. It’s really encouraging that he looked so good.”

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.