One interesting moment on Monday night’s Toronto Bluejays broadcast was during their loss to the division rival New York Yankees.
As he showed earlier at Rogers Center, Aaron Judge can hit a ball a country mile away, and those were the exact words play-by-play announcer Dan Shulman used when he belted his second home run of the game into the top of the infield. Eighth inning, this one on a slider against Jay Jackson, recently called up from Triple-A.
During the at-bat, Shulman and color commentator Buck Martinez recognized something unusual in their eyes with the umpire. While he was guarding the field, he was seen looking at the dugout.
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Aaron Judge, #99 of the New York Yankees, celebrates a solo home run in the eighth inning of their MLB game against the Toronto Blue Jays on May 15, 2023 in Toronto. (Cole Burston/Getty Images)
Confirmed slow video playback.
“Alright Buck, so you and I saw this three steps ago at the same time. What’s that?” Shulman asked.
“Where does he see it?” Martinez shouted.
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Shulman continued, “You don’t want to throw around accusations, but . . .”
Shulman is clearly talking about his ability to manipulate the jury room, and while Martinez doesn’t doubt it, he doesn’t think the judge’s take here allowed him to see where the killer was setting up behind him.
“When I’m catching, I’ve had guys look back and you can clearly see and he can’t see the catcher the way he’s looking right there,” Martinez said.
At that point, Jackson hooked a slider — his third straight slider into Judge’s at-bat — on a 3-2 count, according to Shulman, to deep center field. The ball traveled approximately 462 feet and put the Yankees up 7-0. They would eventually win 7-4 to open the series.
As the umpire rounded the bases, Shulman and Martinez continued.
Aaron Judge, #99 of the New York Yankees, hits a solo home run in the eighth inning of an MLB game against the Toronto Blue Jays on May 15, 2023 in Toronto. (Cole Burston/Getty Images)
“It’s the third time this season that Aaron Judge has hit two home runs in one game,” Martinez said. “And once again he’s looking at something and then the next step is a hard swing and he blasts one to center field. I’ve never seen that with him before.”
“Do you think Alejandro is trying to see if Kirk is ready?” Shulman asked. “You know, if Kirk comes in, it’s more likely to be a slider, and if he can’t see Kirk, it’s more likely to be a fastball?”
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“The way his head was, I’m not sure he could see the catcher or anything like that,” Martinez added.
After the game, the umpire was asked about the situation and responded to manager Aaron Boone’s early at-bat after a low slider in the zone was called a strike by home plate umpire Clint Boone. Vondrak Brown was pelted with contested balls and strikes.
“I don’t like a lot of yelling from our dugout when it’s 6-0 and I know Bonnie was thrown,” he told reporters. I would try to see who was shouting in the dugout. 6-0, Brown is thrown, so now let’s get down to business.
The judge added that his teammates had not stopped talking to Vondrak after their manager was fired, prompting him to take another look.
“Who’s still talking here?” I think so. “When it’s 6-0, our manager has been sacked and he’s done his job. Let’s get back to football.”
“Hopefully it won’t happen again,” the judge concluded.
After returning from the injured list, Judge went 8-for-25 with four homers and 10 RBIs in seven games in May, which the Yankees needed after finishing in last place in the tough AL East division for the first month.
Aaron Judge, #99 of the New York Yankees, hits a home run in the first inning of an MLB game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Center on May 15, 2023 in Toronto. (Cole Burston/Getty Images)
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Judge’s first home run came off Blue Jays Alec Manoah in his first at-bat of the game.