Aaron Judge homers, has three hits for Yankees in win over Orioles

BALTIMORE — One player shouldn’t make that kind of difference for a baseball team.

Aaron Judge clearly does, though.

As Isiah Kiner-Falefa put it to Newsday on Wednesday after word circulated among players that Judge likely would be returning Friday: “Losing him, I think everybody saw what happened. That says it all, honestly.”

Indeed.

Judge, who walked three times Friday night, got a few more pitches to hit Saturday night and was more than ready. He had three hits, including a towering 442-foot home run to centerfield in the third inning that gave the Yankees the lead for good in an 8-3 victory over the Orioles in front of a sellout crowd of 42,829 at Camden Yards.

The Yankees (55-49), who also received homers from Giancarlo Stanton and Kyle Higashioka (three hits), totaled 12 hits in the kind of offensive outburst mostly missing during Judge’s nearly two-month absence. They were 35-25 when he sprained his right big toe on June 3 and went 19-23 without him.

“He’s just a special player,’’ Aaron Boone said. “For him to come in so far in two games, really not having a competitive at-bat [at this level] after being down as long as he has been, just a special player.”

Said Kiner-Falefa: “He means everything to this organization and you see the difference in the energy with and without [him], it’s pretty self-explanatory. The fans rise up when he’s in the lineup, brings a ton of energy that way. Just watching his at-bats, from a personal level where you see him and how good he is and how locked in he is, and it’s contagious. I felt like when he wasn’t there it was kind of just everybody flying open trying to do too much. Yesterday he comes in, three walks right off the bat, and I felt like everybody was able to slow the down the game down a little bit just by watching those at-bats.”

“It’s definitely good to have him back,’’ Higashioka said. “Just that first time, being on the bases, jogging in front of him when he hits a mammoth homer was a great feeling and one I’ve missed for a long time. It’s really good to have him back . . . There’s no question Aaron Judge is maybe the best hitter in the league, and when we have him in the lineup, I think we all feel like we just get a little boost just having a guy like that on the team.”

Kiner-Falefa’s three-run double into the leftfield corner in the sixth gave the Yankees a 8-3 lead. Higashioka had begun the inning with a home run.

Clarke Schmidt (7-6, 4.39), who allowed three runs and five hits in five innings, teamed with Ian Hamilton and Nick Ramirez to hold the AL East-leading Orioles (63-41) to five hits.

Tyler Wells retired Gleyber Torres and Judge on three pitches in the first inning before Stanton tattooed a fastball 427 feet to left for his 14th homer.

Ryan Mountcastle led off the bottom of the second with an opposite-field homer to rightfield, tying the score at 1. With two outs and a runner on third, Ramon Urias hit a grounder into the hole at short and just beat Anthony Volpe’s throw for an infield hit that gave the Orioles a 2-1 lead.

Higashioka led off the third with a single and one out later, Judge — after missing badly on a curveball to start the at-bat — hit his team-leading 20th homer (in only his 51st game) to give the Yankees a 3-2 lead. That improved him to 9-for-21 with four homers against Wells.

Judge said he was looking “soft” on the home run pitch, which was a fastball. “In the past I’ve seen changeups on 1-1 counts, cutters on 1-1 counts,’’ he said. “Really in my mind, just trying to foul off that heater . . . I was just lucky enough to get the barrel on the heater there, but in that situation, kind of sitting soft.”

Harrison Bader led off the fourth with a single and took third when Higashioka slashed a one-out single to right. Torres’ sacrifice fly to center made it 4-2.

Higashioka led off the sixth with his sixth homer, a 428-foot shot to left that made it 5-3. Kiner-Falefa’s double drove in Judge, Stanton and Anthony Rizzo to blow the game open.

Judge liked what he saw from the offense. “Working at-bats,’’ he said. “When I see us fouling off a lot of tough pitches, having long at-bats, making the starter, making the bullpen guys work a little bit, especially against a team like that with a great bullpen, great starters, all their guys I feel like throw 100 out of the pen, it’s impressive. Up and down the lineup, guys having big at-bats.”

Said Boone: “That’s what it’s supposed to look like right there. That’s what we’re working to. Just up and down, it was just good to see us have that level of at-bats.”

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.