Aaron Judge kept getting on base and hitting the ball hard, but on Wednesday night, their best player, having his best playoffs, couldn’t keep the Yankees alive.
And another historic season from the slugger ended without a World Series title, as the Yankees fell 5-2 in Game 4 of the ALDS despite another multihit game from Judge — who goes home still looking for his first World Series ring.
He finished the postseason 13-for-26 with three extra-base hits and seven RBIs and reached base three times on Wednesday.
“This is a team game, so we didn’t win as a team,” Judge said. “You lose as a team. There’s definitely more I can do. I’ll figure it out and go back to work.”
It’s hard to imagine what else he could do.
In the regular season, he put up another MVP-worthy performance, despite being impacted by a flexor strain in his right elbow for much of the second half.
He said Wednesday he’d need to do some work on his elbow, but that surgery would not be necessary.
And in the playoffs, Judge was a menace at the plate, including again on Wednesday.
He started with a single off opener Louis Varland in the bottom of the first after his game-changing homer off Varland on Tuesday.
But he never got his best chance to alter the game, as with runners on first and second and two outs and the Yankees down by three runs in the seventh, Trent Grisham popped out to shortstop Andrés Giménez, who made a terrific catch down the line in foul territory to end the inning and keep Judge in the on deck circle.
By the time he came up next, the Yankees trailed by four as he led off the bottom of the eighth and struck out.
And with the Yankees down to their final out in the bottom of the ninth, Judge finished his season with a rocket RBI single to the left field corner.
He also hit a laser up the middle in the third, but the 112 mph shot went right at Ernie Clement, who was shifted toward second base.
In the sixth, the Blue Jays opted to walk Judge intentionally up by a run with one out and the bases empty.
The move worked, as Cody Bellinger lined out and after Giancarlo Stanton walked, Jazz Chisholm Jr. grounded out.
Regardless of the outcome, Judge won’t have to answer any questions about coming up small in the postseason, at least individually.
That was no consolation late Wednesday night.
“It’s what you play for, you play to win,’’ Judge said. “When you don’t win, it’s not a good year. I’ll see what I can keep doing to help this team win.”
But the October exit by the Yankees was no fault of Judge’s and that hasn’t always been the case, something that’s been well chronicled since his October slump began in 2018.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
