Aaron Judge homers twice to back standout pitching of Jameson Taillon, Michael King in Yankees’ win over Guardians

For fans in the New York area, Friday’s Yankees-Guardians game was available to watch only on the streaming service Amazon Prime as part of its new, exclusive deal with MLB. 

Amazon could have called the game “The Aaron Judge Show.” The free-agent-to-be hit a pair of home runs, drove in three runs and made a key defensive play from centerfield to lead the Yankees to a 4-1 victory before 41,062 at Yankee Stadium. 

Judge, who entered the Yankees’ 14th game with one home run and two RBIs, hit a towering two-run shot to right-center in the third and lined a solo home run to right in the fifth for his 17th career two-homer game.

Judge has never hit three in a game. He temporarily thrilled the crowd in the seventh with a high drive to right-center that wasn’t long at all and was caught well before the warning track. 

Judge also showed his value when he threw out former Mets infielder Andres Gimenez trying to go from first to third on a single in the fifth. That peg helped Jameson Taillon get through five innings with a 4-1 lead en route to his first win of the season. 

Taillon, Michael King (eight strikeouts in three innings) and Aroldis Chapman totaled 15 strikeouts without a walk.

Judge, who turned down the Yankees’ $230 million contract extension offer before Opening Day, has heard grumbling from fans about his lack of production this season. But not on Friday night. 

The Yankees (8-6), who were shut out on Thursday in Detroit, had four of their first five batters strike out on Friday against Cleveland righthander Eli Morgan. 

Judge, who walked in the first, picked up the Yankees’ first hit with two outs in the third when he drove a 3-and-1 pitch  to right-center for a 2-0 lead. 

The Guardians — playing the Yankees for the first time under their new nickname — made it 2-1 in the fourth on Franmil Reyes’ one-out homer to right. 

Josh Naylor followed with a single and moved to third on a double by Amed Rosario, another former Mets infielder Cleveland picked up in January 2021 in the Francisco Lindor/Carlos Carrasco trade. 

The three hits in a row off Taillon were all smoked. But the righthander struck out Bobby Bradley and got Bryan Lavastida on an inning-ending fly ball to right. 

Isiah Kiner-Falefa continued his hot hitting with a two-out RBI single in the fourth to make it 3-1. After starting his Yankees career 1-for-17, that hit was Kiner-Falefa’s 11th in 24 at-bats, a .458 clip. 

Judge used his defensive skills to aid Taillon in the fifth. With Jimenez on first, Steven Kwan looped a single to center. Jimenez tried for third, but Judge fielded an odd hop and fired a strike on the line, and Josh Donaldson slapped down the tag for the second out. 

After a visit from pitching coach Matt Blake, Taillon got Yankees-killer Jose Ramirez (.487 career batting average in the Bronx going into the game) to fly out to Judge to end the inning on his 84th and final pitch. 

Taillon (1-1, 3.07 ERA) allowed seven hits and struck out five. 

Judge made it 4-1 in the fifth with a 112-mph laser to right on a 3-and-2 pitch from lefthander Tanner Tully. 

Emerging bullpen weapon King struck out the last seven batters he faced. He has an 0.84 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 10 2/3 innings. 

Chapman struck out two in the ninth for his fourth save. 

One of the few down notes for the Yankees was the continuing struggles of Joey Gallo, who went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and heard plenty of boos as his average dropped to .122.