The New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge reacts after striking out during the eighth inning of the team’s game against the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday in New York.
AP photo
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NEW YORK — The numbers were aligned for Aaron Judge. The pitches were not.
Judge remained at 61 home runs on the 61st anniversary of Roger Maris’ 61st — he even came to the plate at the exact time Maris went deep.
Just eight of 25 Baltimore’s pitches to Judge were strikes. He walked twice and was hit by a pitch on an 0-for-2 afternoon, sparking a three-run first and a four-run seventh in the New York Yankees’ 8-0 rout of the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday.
“We know we got to capitalize on that. Otherwise, they’re going to keep on doing it,” said Giancarlo Stanton, whose 447-foot drive into the left-field bleachers capped the first. “I think they will either way, but it’s a good extra punch when we do capitalize.”
Judge was grazed on the left arm by a cutter from Austin Voth (5-4) leading off the first, walked in the second and struck out on a full-count curveball in the fourth — at 2:43 p.m., 61 years to the minute when Maris hit his 61st off Boston’s Tracy Stallard across the street at old Yankee Stadium on Oct. 1, 1961.
Against Spenser Watkins, he walked starting in the seventh and struck out on a changeup in the eighth.
“That’s probably a little bit weird for every pitcher,” Boone said. “You’re striking that balance between `I want to attack him,’ but `It’s the best hitter in the world.’”
Fans in the rowd of 45,428 booed every ball and chanted profanely at Orioles pitchers.
“It was pretty loud. Of course I heard it,” Watkins said. “It’s just Yankees fans.”
Judge is in contention to become the first Triple Crown winner in a decade. He leads in RBIs with 130 and at .313 is second in batting to Minnesota’s Luis Arraez, and also is tops with 110 walks.
AL East champion New York (97-60) has five games remaining: Sunday’s rain-threatened home finale followed by a four-game series at Texas.
“There’s no bigger stage and there’s no tougher place to do it,” Stanton said. “He’s at the top of the top and he’s made it look easy.”
Nestor Cortes (12-4) matched his career high with 12 strikeouts, pitching one-hit ball for 7 1/3 innings and walking two. Jorge Mateo singled inches over the outstretched glove of leaping shortstop Oswald Peraza with two outs in the fifth.
Cortes got 19 swings and misses among 93 pitches. He lowered his ERA to 2.48 ERA and would be seventh in the AL except he is 3 2/3 innings shy of qualifying. He got a standing ovation when he walked back to the dugout after his last pitch and tipped his cap to fans.
“I got a chip on my shoulder every time I go out there, a sense of urgency,” he said. “Every time I go out there and pitch, I always feel like it could be the last one.”
With second baseman Gleyber Torres moved to right as part of a four-man outfield — and waving to fans in the seats behind him — Cortes used his hesitation delivery to fan Ryan Mountcastle ending the sixth inning.
“I do it on the spot,” Cortes said. “I don’t really know what I’m doing until it happens.”
Jacob Barnes finished with two-hit relief in his Yankees debut, completing New York’s 16th shutout, its most since 1998.
Kyle Higashioka had three of New York’s 14 hits, including his ninth home run, and Torres and Josh Donaldson had two RBIs each.
Voth gave up four runs and seven hits in five innings for the surprising Orioles (81-77), who following a 110-loss season remained in postseason contention until mathematically eliminated by Seattle’s late-night win Friday.
Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde knew his team disappointed fans wanting to see No. 62.
“I get it. They want to see something special. It’s a cool moment,” he said. “We’re not trying to walk him. We’re trying to pitch him carefully.”