Greeted by boos, Judge shows the SF Giants what they're missing

Aaron Judge (99) of the New York Yankees gestures after hitting a solo home run against the San Francisco Giants during the sixth inning of their MLB game at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., Friday, May 31 2024. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)

SAN FRANCISCO — No, two years wasn't enough to heal that wound, not if the reaction Friday night inside Oracle Park offered any indication.

Boos reigned when Aaron Judge's name was first announced in the introductions. The torrent continued in his first at-bat, with the home fans still in an uproar when Giants starter Jordan Hicks threw his first pitch to the 6-foot-7 slugger who held off San Francisco two years ago winters.

Then, just as the anxiety of a failed free agent pursuit began to fade, Judge opened the flesh again with one blow and cauterized it with another.

Returning to Oracle Park for the first time since his free agent visit, Judge handed his former contenders a 6-2 defeat with a pair of 6-foot-7 home runs, providing a glimpse of what it could have been like look like if The Giants' aggressive pursuit of the Northern California-born superstar is paying off.

Instead, Judge opted to re-sign with the New York Yankees, who once again benefited from his bat in the first of three games between the interleague foes. This is the Yankees' first visit to the shores of McCovey Cove since 2019, and their traveling fan base has at times outshone the jeers of home fans.

Chants of “Let’s Go Yankees!” » reached its climax shortly after Judge's second ball fell of its own accord onto the net beyond the backboard 391 feet into center field.

The solo shot, his league-leading 20th of the season, extended the Yankees' lead to 4-1 to start the sixth inning, and they added two more and forced Hicks to leave the game before the end of the match. Receiving chants of “MVP” behind the dugout, Judge was responsible for four of the Yankees' runs.

“There are some teams that travel really well, and you hear them,” manager Bob Melvin said. “The trick is not to let them score, so you don’t have to hear them.”

Winning an eight-pitch battle with Hicks in his second trip to the plate, Judge deposited a splitter up the middle into the left field bleachers to open a 3-1 lead in the third inning. The ball was hit at 104.4 mph and traveled 394 feet, measurements that pale in comparison to his sixth-inning blast that left his bat at 112.3 mph and traveled 426 feet.

The pair of homers gave him seven in his last nine games and 13 since the start of May; his 26 extra-base hits this month are behind Joe DiMaggio and Lou Gehrig for the most in a calendar month in the Yankees' illustrious franchise history. This season, Judge holds the top marks in the majors in walks (45), slugging percentage (.648), OPS (1.056), extra-base hits (38) and home runs (20 ).

“You throw him a pitch that he can handle, that’s what he does with it,” Melvin said. “You throw good throws, and he fouls them or he catches them. … It's also difficult to work with him. You have Juan (Soto) right in front of him. It's a very good formation, especially in the upper part, which has at least six people.

With Judge as the $360 million anchor, the Yankees' lineup entered the Series leading the majors in home runs and OPS and proved to be Hicks' toughest test of the season. Allowing five runs (four earned) in 5⅓ innings, Hicks did not issue a walk but gave up eight hits, including the two big ones to Judge.

The two homers and four earned runs were both the most numbers allowed by Hicks in his 13 starts, raising his ERA to 2.70, still eighth in the National League.

“You catch a top-three hitter in the game having the best month of his career, I probably have to tip my cap,” Hicks said. “With that power, when he hits the ball, I know it’s gone. There's some guys, they hit it and it's like maybe it's right against the wall, but it's just a different sound.