Aaron Judge is on an impressive 8-game hitting steak
Aaron Judge is on fire at the plate to begin this condensed and unprecedented season that is being played during the Covid-19 pandemic. He got a hit in both games of Wednesday’s double header split against the Phillies to extend his hitting streak.
Judge is on an 8-game hitting streak. He is 11–30 with seven homers, 16 RBI and 11 runs scored during the impressive streak.
In game one (11–7 Yankees loss), Judge was 1–4 with a homer and three RBI, and in game two (3–1 Yankees win), Judge was 1–3. Game two was only the second out of the eight games in which Judge did not have an RBI.
The double header on Wednesday was the first double header the Yankees ever played where both games were seven innings because it was their first double header of the season. In the game two win, Luke Voit hit a homer in the 2nd and then they scored two runs in the 7th on a Mike Tauchman RBI double and a Gio Urshela RBI single that scored the speedy Tyler Wade.
This was a bullpen game for the Yankees and Jonathan Loaisiga was the opener and he pitched 2.1 innings allowing a run on an Andrew Knapp RBI single.
The bullpen for the Yankees impressively did not allow a run or a hit in 4.2 innings. Luis Avilan had two strikeouts in one inning pitched and then the dominant back three finished off the 7-inning contest.
Chad Green had two strikeouts in 2.1 innings, Adam Ottavino got the final out of the sixth earning him the win and Zack Britton pitched the seventh. Britton earned his fifth save, which means that he has gotten the save in five of the team’s nine wins. The Yankees are lucky to have a pitcher the caliber of Britton be their closer while Aroldis Chapman continues to get in shape after having Covid-19.
Britton was an elite closer with the Baltimore Orioles before coming to the Yankees. He had 37 saves and a 1.65 ERA in 2014 and then had a 1.92 ERA with 36 saves in 2015. In 2016, he had on of the best seasons of all time for a closer when he had 47 saves, a 4.3 WAR, a remarkable 0.54 ERA and a 0.84 WHIP.
Green, Ottavino and Britton have all not allowed an earned run in any of their games to begin the season and have been an excellent trio at the back of the bullpen. Green has pitched eight innings, struck out 11 batters and only allowed one hit and one walk in his five games. He also has a minuscule 0.25 WHIP, a 0.00 ERA and two holds.
Ottavino has pitched in five games (4 innings), only allowed three hits, struck out two, has a 1.00 WHIP and a 0.00 ERA. He also has two wins and one hold. Britton has pitched in five games and recorded a save in each game he has appeared in. He has a total of 5.0 innings pitched and in those five innings he has four strikeouts, just one hit allowed and a WHIP of 0.40.
Judge has had just as an impressive start to the season as Britton and his performance could be considered more impressive since he has appeared in 11 games and is only the second Yankee since Alex Rodriguez (2007) to homer in five consecutive games. A-Rod was the MVP in 2007 and Judge is performing like an MVP so far this season.
For the season, Judge, who is 6–7 and 282 pounds, has a .310 average, seven homers, 17 RBI, a slugging percentage of .877 and an OPS of 1.227. He leads all of MLB with his seven homers and 17 RBI. In the AL, he has three more homers than anyone else (there is a 5-way tie at four homers) and his 17 RBI are two more than Nelson Cruz’s 15. He is tied for the AL league lead with 36 total bases, has the best slugging percentage by a wide margin and also leads the AL in the OPS category.
He is healthy, firing on all cylinders and performing like he did when he was a rookie in 2017 and finished 2nd in MVP voting and first in Rookie of the Year voting. He was the first Yankee to win Rookie of the Year since Derek Jeter in 1996.
It seems like the season might not finish its 60 games due to Covid-19 but Judge has been a big part of the offense performing very well so far.
