Aaron Judge breaks the wall while making a great catch, a breakdown
What Happened
In a critical late-inning matchup, the New York Yankees trail the Los Angeles Dodgers by one run in the bottom of the eighth. Outfielder Aaron Judge steps up to the plate, representing the tying run. Yankees pitcher Mike King delivers a two-seam fastball, followed by a slider that breaks away from the left-handed hitting J.D. Martinez. Martinez swings but misses the slider, bringing the count to 2-2. King goes back to the slider, this time down in the zone and Martinez waves at it without making contact. On the next pitch, King fires a fastball up in the zone and Martinez pokes it into the air towards the right-center field gap. Judge breaks quickly, tracking the ball all the way as he closes in on the wall. Just as the ball reaches the warning track, Judge leaps and makes an incredible catch, crashing through the outfield wall in the process. The impact breaks a section of the fence, but Judge hangs onto the ball to record the out. Dodgers baserunner Max Muncy, who was on first base, fails to tag up and only advances to second on the play. Yankees manager Aaron Boone argues with the umpires, as they rule the ball went out of play and award Muncy second base, per the rules. Boone disagrees, feeling Judge should not be penalized for the faulty stadium design. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts understands the call but also acknowledges it's a "crap" ruling. With the tying run now in scoring position, Yankees reliever Michael King battles back to strike out Muncy and escape the jam. The Yankees ultimately prevail in a tight, hard-fought game between two of baseball's premier franchises. Aaron Judge's highlight-reel catch, though resulting in a minor foot injury, showcases his elite defensive skills and commitment to making game-changing plays for his team.
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentThis breakdown is brought to you by DraftKings. Two-run game, bottom of the eighth and the tying
run at the plate. Mike King opens them up. Two-seam fastball. It comes in, then goes slider.
It goes away and he gets the swing. Those are the two pitches. One goes away from the batter.
One comes towards him. So he throws the one that goes away first on the outside edge,
then goes with the one that goes away and he swings at it, hoping it comes back,
but it goes the other way. Slider again. J.D. kind of waves at it, but doesn't swing.
Next pitch, slider down. A little different movement. 2-2. Goes fastball. J.D. pokes it.
Judge is tracking it down. Is it a homer? Is it? Oh, it's, oh, whoa. Caught. Broken fence.
They hold Muncie to first. He doesn't tag up and Judge is like, what happened? Doesn't want to
look back. They run out to see if he's okay and he's going to wave him off. Spike Lee's in the
crowd. Of course, he is. He's in the crowd. He's in the crowd. He's in the crowd. He's in the crowd.
He is. And he's got his jersey covered up. What perfect timing. You guys didn't know. It was 99
all along. So Judge is going to wave Booney off. Kinger's like, oh my God, this guy is insane.
Whew. J.D.'s thinking, I really got a hold of that one. Wanted more to come out of it than
just an out. Judge says, I'm good. Seriously. Don't check me. They're like, the door's good too.
Yeah. It's not a door. That's the crazy thing. I keep thinking it's a door. It's not a door. It's
just a wall. He just broke the wall. Look at the concentration
on his eyes. He's staring at the ball the whole way and it goes into his glove.
Right. Big ass outfield glove right into his glove and then hits the wall. He had no idea
it was coming. Warning track. Don't care about you. Now the bullpen guys kind of touch him,
help him back out. He throws it in. Apparently he's okay. But then the next day it comes out.
Apparently he's not okay because he hurt his foot because he kicked the cement wall right there.
Right up against it. Kicks the cement wall. I also like
again, it's not a door. This is, this isn't supposed to open. There's not hinges. He just
bursted at the seam and it goes right into the bullpen catcher's chair. I wonder if it didn't
swing in and hit his chair. If he wasn't sitting there, would it have just kept going and judge
falling down or was it going to, you know, have enough traction that it didn't both feet out of
bounds here that comes into play later. But he says, Oh look, I got it. I got it. I got it. Now
watch his feet. He might have a broken toe. We don't know. We haven't heard yet,
that right foot goes, bam. I'm guessing it's that big toe on the right foot, right into the
concrete lip. It's a weird design. I guess it's old third oldest stadium in MLB. Is that correct?
If not, I'm sure one of you will say so in the comments, but yeah, they're fixing that again,
not a door, just a wall. They're like, well, that dude, he's, you know, six, seven to 80.
Now Booney comes out and the umps are like, Hey guy, technically the ball went out of play.
So we have to award Muncie second base, the same as like an overthrow, which doesn't make any sense.
And Muncie says, okay, I'll take second base. And Booney's trying not to get ejected because
he's been ejected a lot, but he really can't believe it because it doesn't make any sense.
It's not judge's fault. The, the wall broke and he's like, no, I heard, I hear you. I hear what
you're saying. I don't want to challenge it. I just, uh, logic, the wall broke.
Why is he being punished for the wall? Not being sturdy. And they're like, well, that's just the
rules. The ball went out of bounds. The guy touched him and Boone's like, okay, again,
I don't want to challenge it. Roberts gets the explanation, looks at Booney's like, Oh,
that's a crack of shit. Huh? We'll take it. Now. Kinger's got to get out of it. Running and
runner and scoring position, slider, slider for a strike, slider again, slider for a strike,
probably called sweepers. And then he goes fastball up. Doesn't get it. Doesn't get the swing
slider, middle, middle. That's pop.
It was a kind of a juicy pitch months. He's now at third base on a normal sack, fly fastball to
seamer for a strike slider away, slider in the middle of the zone. Again, not there. And then
strike three stabbed. You're dead. Wow. Okay. See you later. This one was brought to you by
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