Anthony Rizzo homers, Aaron Judge get 4 hits in the win against the Reds

CINCINNATI – There was plenty of reason to pitch to Aaron Judge in the tenth inning of the Yankees’ game against the Reds on Saturday afternoon. The judge is the hottest on the planet and first base was open.

Judge and Rizzo both came on to lift the Yankees to a 7-4 victory in 10 innings before a sellout crowd of 41,374 at Great American Ball Park.

Greg Allen, who had been acquired by the Yankees in a trade the previous day, was placed at number two in the 10th. He advanced to third on a Gleyber Torres fly and scored on Judge’s single.

“With Gleiber taking off on him, it was just about me,” said the judge. “I got in there a little aggressive. I played there to get him in and set Rizz up to do the real damage.”

Rizzo did just that. He followed it up with his second homer—both off Ian Gibbot—in as many days and a long ball of 24 at Great American Ball Park, the second most by a visiting player (Ryan Braun, 28). Not to be outdone, the judge was 4 for 4 with three RBIs on the day. Judge and Rizzo both came away winning Friday night 6-2.

As No. 2 and No. 3 hitters, Judge and Rizzo carried the Yankees, who won five out of six and 10 out of 14 to push their record to 28-20.

Judge overwhelms Rizzo at times with his larger-than-life exploits, but Judge never looks down on his teammate.

“I can start so many different places,” Judge said when asked what Rizzo means to the team. “What he does at the club. He’s a leader. He motivates the players. He picks the guys up. Then what he does on the field. He’s a great first man. He hit clutch after clutch crash.”

“He’s a huge part of this team. That’s why he fits in so well with this rank. He’s been right in the middle of some of our biggest wins.”

Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of Rizzo, “He was our rock. He was rock solid to start the year. He was a steady one. When Jody missed those 10 days or eleven or whatever, Anthony was right in the middle of things. He hit out.” Power’s sake. He’s one of our leaders. He was huge.”

Neither Rizzo nor Judge expected the Reds to walk over to the judge’s position.

“I went in there expecting to hit, [and] said the judge.

“I thought it was possible,” Boone said. “You’re also far from getting it. You’ve got a good hit on deck. You can probably put the second run on base. As far as the umpire goes, you have a chance to hit there. I wasn’t surprised.”

Freshman Johnny Brito went four innings and stopped four runs on four strikeouts. He walked four and struck out six. The walk hurt him – two of the runs he allowed were scored by the batters he walked.

The Reds took a 1-0 lead on the first RBI game off Jake Fraley, who now leads a 10-game winning streak.

Judge tied the game with two outs, with a 354 RBI in the third. Yes, a 354-foot single. The ball left the bat at 115.1 mph, so it reached the base of the wall at left so quickly that Judge had no chance of getting into second.

Brito walked the bases loaded with two outs in the bottom of the inning before Spencer Steer ran in with one out.

“I tried to be very good on this tour,” Brito said.

Brito had two more troubles in the fourth inning. Jose Barrero reached into a single embrace. Luke Maile followed it up with his third home run of the year to give the Reds a 4-1 lead.

But New York immediately tied it for fifth. With one out, Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit his second home run of the year. Ben Rortvedt and Torres followed with singles, and the judge quickly doubled down on Rortvedt. Such was the case for Reds starter Luke Weaver. Alex Young took over and ceded a solo to Rizzo. Torres scored to tie the game, but Judge was thrown off the plate on the play.

The Yankees did not pitch through the final four innings of regulation before their bats fired in extras to seal the series win.