ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Watch closely and you will see an approach from Aaron Judge that focuses on hitting the ball the other way or up the middle.
That approach was in full swing during Friday night’s 8-4, 11-inning victory at Tropicana Field, when he homered to right field in the first inning off Rays lefty Brendan McKay. Judge homered again to lead off the 11th, his second solo home run of the night, a line-drive shot to center on Ryne Stanek’s first pitch, a 98-mph fastball, to snap a 4-4 tie.
The Yankees went on to score three more runs in the inning on Brett Gardner’s three-run blast as they grabbed an 8 ¹/u2082 game lead over the Rays in the AL East.