Aaron Judge robs homer, starts double play, gets 1,000th hit

WASHINGTON – It’s one thing for Aaron Judge to swat more homers with more ease than anyone else in baseball. When he starts robbing homers, too, that might just be unfair.

Judge remained at 51 homers throughout Monday’s series opener in the nation’s capital, but that didn’t prevent him from making an enormous impact at the center-field wall anyway. This one came with his glove, as Judge leapt to take away what would have been a two-run homer by Andrés Chaparro in the fourth inning of New York’s 5-2 win over the Nationals.

Judge also collected career hit No. 1,000, Gleyber Torres, Austin Wells and Jazz Chisholm Jr. all homered, and Nestor Cortes logged 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball as the Yankees maintained the AL’s top record by rattling off another win in the ballpark Juan Soto once called home. The victory stretched New York’s lead atop the American League East to two games over the Orioles, their largest since June 26.

Soto was the topic of conversation all afternoon ahead of his third series (seventh total game) back at Nationals Park since he was traded from Washington to San Diego in an enormous blockbuster at the 2022 Trade Deadline, and his first game as a Yankee in the nation’s capital. Soto went hitless with a walk. Judge also drew a walk before connecting for his 1,000th career hit, a single to the opposite field in the ninth.

Judge is the 42nd player in Yankees history to reach that milestone, and the first since Brett Gardner did in 2017.

Before the game, Soto reflected on his time in the nation’s capital and his first year in pinstripes ahead of his upcoming free agency. He was also asked what makes Judge so special, what separates him from other players.

“He’s 6-7,” Soto deadpanned. “He’s a great player. Every day he comes to the field to work hard and put everything that he needs to in to get ready for the game. His work ethic is one of the best I’ve ever seen so far, and he shows it off every day.”

Chaparro dropped the barrel on a 1-2 fastball from Cortes, striking it at 99.4 mph and a 27 degree launch angle, and a projected 389 feet. That should be enough to sneak a ball over the left-center-field wall at Nationals Park, along a stretch of wall just past the visitors’ bullpen.

But not when the 6-foot-7 Judge is patrolling center. Judge went over the wall to pluck Chaparro’s fly ball, then made an accurate throw to cutoff man Torres to begin an inning-ending 8-4-3 double play.