Aaron Judge's fourth hit breaks tie as Yankees beat Reds in 10 innings

CINCINNATI — Getting Aaron Judge to admit that he feels “locked in” at the plate is akin to getting a Yankees fan to profess undying love for the Red Sox.

It just isn’t going to happen. Under any circumstance.

In the case of Judge, he doesn’t really have to do that. The results speak for themselves. And they’ve been speaking — loudly — for the past week-plus.

The reigning American League MVP produced four hits, including a go-ahead RBI single in the 10th, to help the Yankees earn a 7-4 victory over the Reds on Saturday in front of 31,374 at Great American Ball Park.

“When they didn’t walk him,” Isiah Kiner-Falefa said of the Reds pitching to Judge with Greg Allen at third and one out in the 10th, “I had a good feeling.”

Judge of late has produced nothing but that in the Yankees’ dugout. In his last 11 games, he has a .405/.519/.976 slash line with seven homers, three doubles, 10 walks, 16 RBIs and 12 runs scored. He is hitting .299 with a 1.042 OPS overall.

“Try not to think about it,” Judge said of his mindset during the kind of hot streak he’s currently enjoying. “I just try to treat every at-bat like it’s its own at-bat. No matter if I got out or got a hit in my previous at-bat, it’s about going up there, assessing the situation, see who’s on the mound, what do I need to do to help the team win? When you go up in that mindset, you never know if you’re hot or cold.”

Allen, acquired from the Red Sox on Friday night and added to the roster Saturday when Aaron Hicks was designated for assignment, started the 10th at second and took third on Gleyber Torres’ long flyout to right. Judge, who somewhat surprisingly was not intentionally walked, lined an 0-and-2 slider to left for a single that made it 5-4. Anthony Rizzo’s 11th homer, a two-run shot, made it 7-4.

“Having Rizz behind me helps big time,” Judge said of the thought going through his head that he might be intentionally walked. “But for me, I can’t have the mindset that I’m going to get walked in that situation. I have to go up there with my game plan and stay focused because if I’m on deck [thinking about that], if you have that kind of mindset, you’re defeated before you even step in there. I walked in there expecting to get the job done. Thankfully, I was able to do that.”

After the outburst in the top of the 10th — neither team had scored after the Yankees rallied for three runs in the fifth to tie it at 4-4 — soft-tossing righty Ryan Weber struck out one in a perfect bottom half for his second career save.

The Yankees (28-20), who have won 13 of their last 18, outhit the Reds 13-5 and came back from a 4-1 deficit. They improved to 5-1 on this trip, which concludes here Sunday morning.

The afternoon was a battle of bullpens fairly early as neither starter distinguished himself. Jhony Brito allowed four runs, four hits and four walks in four innings and his counterpart, Luke Weaver, pitched to about the same effectiveness. Weaver allowed four runs and eight hits in 4 1⁄3 innings.

“I think it has been a great learning experience for me,” said rookie righthander Brito, who has a 5.58 ERA in 10 games (nine starts) and was optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after the game. That opens a spot for Luis Severino, who will make his first start of the season in the series finale.

The Yankees produced six straight hits in their three-run fifth. Kiner-Falefa’s

homer cut the deficit to 4-2 and Judge and Rizzo added RBI hits later in the inning to tie it, although Judge was cut down at the plate on Rizzo’s single.

Ron Marinaccio, Michael King, Clay Holmes and Weber did not allow a run in the final six innings.

“They’ve been huge,” Aaron Boone said of the bullpen. “We’ve had to lean on them a lot and we’ve had to share the load. But when you’re playing good baseball and you’re down a little bit [with injuries], you need the other guys to step up. Today they were terrific.”

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.