The New York Yankees dropped both games of the Subway Series against the New York Mets, on Tuesday and Wednesday, at Citi Field.
They had chances to win both games, but they were neutralized by Taijuan Walker on Tuesday and by Max Scherzer last night.
In fact, Scherzer was able to strike out Aaron Judge, the Yankees’ best player, in a big spot with runners on and a close game in the late innings.
Pitching on his 38th birthday, Scherzer made use of his incredible slider to dominate Judge, who leads the league with 38 home runs.
“Aaron Judge’s six swinging strikes tonight vs. Max Scherzer (yes, all sliders),” Codify Baseball tweeted, showing the location of the pitches: all in the outside part of the strike zone, and a couple of them out of the zone by a wide margin.
Aaron Judge's six swinging strikes tonight vs. Max Scherzer (yes, all sliders)… pic.twitter.com/kUr7OAtvec
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) July 28, 2022
Scherzer Knew How To Pitch To Judge
Scherzer is savvy enough to know that Judge destroys fastballs and could hit long home runs if he hung sliders near the middle of the plate.
However, burying his slider down and away is a good approach to dominate a player like Judge.
Umpires often make incorrect strike calls to Judge on pitches low and away that are out of the zone, so the slugger is already fighting a mental battle with the officials and perhaps feels inclined to swing at those kind of pitches.
He can often defend that part of the zone, but Scherzer is just too good: his slider is one of the best in MLB in terms of sudden movement and command.
SCHERZER STRIKES OUT JUDGE FOR THE THIRD TIME OF THE NIGHT ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/NriPaMVssq
— ESPN (@espn) July 28, 2022
The Mets, and the veteran ace, won the battle this time, in an incredible showdown between two of the best players in baseball.
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