NEW YORK – Game 5 of the World Series has been quite a roller coaster for Aaron Judge.
The star slugger busted out of a postseason slump with his first Series home run Wednesday night, connecting for a two-run shot in the first inning that put the New York Yankees ahead against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
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He also made a spectacular catch while banging into the fence — and then dropped an easy fly for an error that helped the Dodgers rally for five runs to tie the score at 5 in the fifth.
Judge was batting just .152 in October and .133 during his first Fall Classic before sending a 403-foot shot to right-center on the first pitch he saw from starter Jack Flaherty.
Three innings later, Judge made an outstanding grab to rob Freddie Freeman of extra bases.
Freeman sent a drive to deep left-center that Judge ran down as he crashed hard into the fence with his right hand and shoulder near the 399-foot sign. From his knees, the 6-foot-7 center fielder flipped the ball to teammate Alex Verdugo to throw back into the infield.
Judge then smiled and winked at Verdugo as the Yankee Stadium crowd chanted “MVP! MVP!”
In the fifth, however, Judge took his eye off Tommy Edman's soft liner at the last moment and dropped it for an error that put two runners on with nobody out. After two more defensive miscues by New York, the Dodgers tied the score when Freeman hit a two-run single and Teoscar Hernández followed with a two-run double off Gerrit Cole with two outs.
New York trailed 3-1 in the best of-seven Series after winning 11-4 on Tuesday night to prevent a four-game sweep.
Juan Soto was aboard on a one-out walk when Judge homered. It was the 16th postseason homer and third this year for Judge, expected to win his second AL MVP award in three years next month.
He hadn't gone deep in 29 plate appearances since a tying drive at Cleveland late in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series on Oct. 17. Judge also homered in Game 2 of that series.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. followed with another home run off Flaherty, giving the Yankees back-to-back homers in a World Series for the fifth time and first since Thurman Munson and Reggie Jackson connected 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 launched successive 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 and reached base three times on a walk, a hit by pitch and a single.
He knocked in a run with a base hit in the eighth inning that made it 11-4, his first RBI of the Series and seemingly just icing on the cake. But maybe something clicked with that swing for Judge, who pumped his fist after rounding first base.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb