It will be, as Aaron Judge put it, “the race of the century.”
OK, not really. But when Judge went deep for his 26th homer of the season Sunday afternoon, getting things going in what turned out to be an 8-3 Yankees thumping of the Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium, he tied his smaller teammate Brett Gardner. Just four batters later, also in the first inning, Gardner crushed his 27th round-tripper, into the right-field second deck.
So Gardner, who has played in 136 games and tallied 477 at-bats, brings the lead over Judge, who has played in 98 games and tallied 364 at-bats, on the road as the Yankees close their regular-season schedule.
“I’ve just got to motivate him a couple of times,” Judge said. “Every time I seem to get a home run, he seems to answer right back, and he gives me a little look in the dugout.
“But it’s all fun. We’re competitive. We want to win. That’s the main goal. … He says one of these days, I’ll catch him. We’ll see.”
Asked whether he’s trying to keep up with Judge, Gardner responded: “He might be trying to keep up with me. He’s trying to. We’ll see how this next week goes. I told him a few weeks ago I was pulling hard for him to get to 30. I think he’ll get there.”
In this year of the juiciest juiced ball, Gardner already has set a career high for homers, easily surpassing his previous peak of 21 from 2017.
Asked whether he’s aiming for 30, with five games left, Gardner said: “No, the 30 doesn’t [mean anything]. I’ve already hit 18 or 20 more than everybody expected me to hit. Just continue to try to have good at-bats, go out there every day, try and continue to take care of myself and get ready for October.”
The Yankees finished their home schedule with a 57-24 record in The Bronx. Amazingly, they lost their first three home series of the season — two of three to the Orioles, Tigers and White Sox — and went 20-0-3 the rest of the way.
“We���re pretty good,” Aaron Boone said. “And we’re set up in a lot of ways with our power for this ballpark. It’s a place where you’re pretty much playing in front of a packed, energized crowd every night, which I think certainly fuels our guys and energizes our guys. I think to a man, they love playing here. We certainly love playing at Yankee Stadium.”
Gary Sanchez continues to progress from left groin tightness and Aaron Boone said he’s “optimistic” the catcher could return in time for the Yankees’ final series of the regular season at Texas.
Edwin Encarnacion (oblique) also figures to be there for that last series, which begins Friday. Boone backed off expectations that Encarnacion might be ready Tuesday at Tampa Bay.
“I would say definitely not Tuesday,’’ Boone said. “Wednesday is possible, but with the off-day [Thursday] and three games in Texas, we’re not gonna push anything. I do expect him to be as close to ready as possible by the middle of the week.”
Gleyber Torres was held out of the lineup for a second straight day after leaving Friday’s game with a right hamstring injury. Boone expects the second baseman to be available on Tuesday at Tampa Bay.
There are still no plans for Aaron Hicks to recover from his right flexor strain in time to return for the postseason, but the center fielder has resumed throwing after being shut down and Boone called Hicks’ progress “encouraging.’’
Boone said Hicks is throwing up to 90 feet.
“From where we were sitting a week to 10 days ago, I think we’re a little more optimistic about his ability to get back,’’ Boone said, referring to Hicks potentially avoiding surgery. “I don’t know if there’s enough time to get back any point in the playoffs. I wouldn’t expect that, but the fact he’s starting to build up now is encouraging.”
Hicks could meet the team Tuesday when they’re facing the Rays.
“He hasn’t started hitting, so it’s hard to envision him being back at some point [this postseason],’’ Boone said. “But I know in his mind, he’s gonna work hard to put himself in position. We’ll see how the elbow responds, especially when he cranks up.’’
Umpire Joe West had an interesting series in The Bronx. On Sunday, he got in the way of Gio Urshela in shallow center on a play in the top of the first and then appeared to blow a force-out call at second base in the bottom of the fifth, only for it to stand after a replay review. His series got off to a rough start on Friday, when he blew a called strike to Brett Gardner in the bottom of the ninth. He also tossed Boone from third base Saturday.