Aaron Judge makes his presence felt as Yankees snap losing streak, salvage Subway Series

Gary Phillips, New York Daily News on Jul 6, 2025

Published in Baseball

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

NEW YORK — Only minutes removed from the Yankees’ sixth consecutive loss and their 16th defeat in their last 22 games, Aaron Judge was asked if the sorry streak had begun to take a toll on the team on Saturday.

The Yankees’ captain only needed one word to answer the question.

“No,” Judge replied, sticking to the even-keel, everything will be fine approach that the Yankees, for better or worse, have publicly preached throughout yet another summer swoon.

Some of the Bombers’ issues continued on Sunday, but their losing streak did not. It wasn’t always pretty, but they beat the Mets, 6-4, in the regular season’s Subway Series finale.

“Every game is important,” Judge said after going 1 for 4 with three RBI and a web gem on Sunday. “Doesn’t matter what happened before, what’s coming up. It’s just about today. We were focused on today. We really weren’t worried about the past six games, past 10 games, past 70 games. We’re worried about what we had today in front of us.”

The slugger’s largest contribution came in the fifth inning. With the Yankees already up 3-0 thanks to an Austin Wells homer in the third and some station-to-station scoring in the fourth, Judge followed a leadoff double from Paul Goldschmidt with a home run to left-center field.

The 388-foot homer just barely cleared the wall.

“I knew it was going to be a hit. I just didn’t know where it was going,” Judge said. “I was happy it went over.”

Judge’s blast off Brandon Waddell gave him 33 homers for the season and put him two behind Seattle catcher Cal Raleigh for the major league lead.

Judge is also pacing the majors with a .360 average and a 1.202 OPS. He’s up to 74 RBI, tying him and Raleigh for second in the big leagues.

“I’ve never been a part of something like that, so just to sit here and watch him and be a part of it and celebrate it with him, it feels like I’m out there doing it,” Jazz Chisholm Jr. said of Judge’s season after finding out he’s joining the right fielder and Max Fried in Atlanta for the All-Star Game.

Judge’s latest longball also padded a lead that the Yankees nearly squandered, as the Mets totaled four runs between the fifth and sixth innings. Some porous defense from the Yankees — a common theme lately — assisted their crosstown rivals, but Judge paused that trend when he laid out to catch a Starling Marte line drive to end the sixth with the tying run on third.

“That was another big play within the course of the game,” Aaron Boone said, also praising an eighth-inning double play from Paul Goldschmidt and a seventh-inning double play started by Cody Bellinger.

Boone called Bellinger’s play in left, a shoestring catch that saw him fire to first for the second out, the Yankees’ “play of the year so far.” Judge seemed to be in agreement, declaring the highlight “incredible.”

“I’ve never seen something like that on the field,” Judge continued. “That was a game-saving play right there.”

While Bellinger stole the show defensively, Judge also drove a deep sac fly to left in the seventh. That gave the Yankees breathing room with their bullpen struggling lately.

With the Yankees having salvaged a sloppy Subway Series, the team will now head back to the Bronx for a six-game homestand before the All-Star break.

That stretch will begin with Raleigh’s Mariners, though Judge will be more focused on chasing wins than the home run race with his club recently falling out of first place.

“He’s a complete hitter,” Judge said. “Hits the ball all over the park. Being able to be a switch-hitter, and have both your swings on like that, it’s impressive, so I’m excited to see him.”

____