NEW YORK (AP) — Game 5 of the World Series was a rollercoaster ride for Aaron Judge.
The star slugger recovered from his postseason slump with his first Series home run on Wednesday night, a two-run shot in the first inning that put the New York Yankees ahead against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
He also made a spectacular catch, hitting hard into the outfield fence – and then dropped an easy fly on an error that helped Los Angeles rally for five runs and tie the score at 5 in the fifth.
New York's bullpen gave up a one-run lead in the eighth and the Dodgers held on for a 7–6 victory, clinching their eighth championship and second in five years.
“You can't give a good team extra outs like that,” Judge said. “It starts with me coming up there on the line drive. I ran it the wrong way. So that doesn't happen, so I guess we have a different story tonight.”
Judge was batting just .152 in October and .133 during his first Fall Classic before he sent a 403-foot shot to right-center on starter Jack Flaherty's first pitch.
Three innings later, Judge made an excellent catch to steal an extra base from Freddie Freeman.
Freeman sent a drive to deep left-center that Judge ran down as he hit the fence near the 399-foot mark with his right arm and shoulder. From his knees, the 6-foot-7 center fielder bounced the ball to teammate Alex Verdugo and threw it back into the infield.
When the Yankee Stadium crowd chanted “MVP!” When slogans were raised, the judge smiled and winked at Verdugo. MVP!”
However, in the fifth, Judge got his eye on Tommy Edman's soft liner at the last moment and dropped it on an error, leaving two runners on and no one out.
“I didn't pretend,” he said.
After two more defensive errors by New York, the Dodgers evened the score when Freeman hit a two-run single and Teoscar Hernandez hit a two-run double off Gerrit Cole with two outs.
The 6-foot-7 Judge also walked twice and doubled in Game 5, but his costly error came in center field.
The Yankees captain said, “We didn't get the job done. Just made some mistakes along the way that hurt us.”
Juan Soto was riding a one-out walk when Judge homered. It was the 16th homer of the postseason and the third of the year for Judge, who is expected to win his second AL MVP award in three years next month.
He had not gone deep in 29 plate appearances since a tying drive in Cleveland late in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series on October 17. Judge also participated in Game 2 of that series.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit another home run against Flaherty, giving the Yankees back-to-back homers in the World Series for the fifth time and the first since Thurman Munson and Reggie Jackson were involved in Game 5 at Dodger Stadium in 1977.
It was the 14th set of back-to-back homers in Yankees postseason history. Judge and Giancarlo Stanton hit consecutive shots in the eighth inning during Game 3 of the ALCS.
Judge began to show small signs of breaking out in Game 4, when he went 1 for 3, reaching base on three walks, a pitch hit, and a single. He drove in a run with a base hit in the eighth inning to make the score 11–4, his first RBI of the series.
“We didn't get it done,” the judge said. “It's been a great year, guys. It was fun to play with this group of guys. They really came together, the guys that we either signed to come here or that we traded with, they all fit into this club perfectly.
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