Aaron Judge Garrett Crochet Yankees Red Sox

Baseball Cinema: Aaron Judge clutches up in the 9th but Yankees still manage to lose in extras at Fenway

There’s regular season baseball, and then there’s Yankees–Red Sox at Fenway under the lights. I don’t care what month it is — when it’s close, when it’s tense, when every pitch feels like a playoff game — this rivalry still brings out the baseball sickos.

I’m a baseball fan. I don’t give a shit about the Red Sox or Yankees but there’s no denying that Friday night was baseball was cinema.

That was a script you’d greenlight on the spot. Garrett Crochet vs. the Yankees. Judge stepping to the plate in the ninth. Game tied in extras. Chaos. Mistakes. Drama. All of it.

Let’s start with Garrett Crochet. The guy has fully arrived. Friday night was him planting the flag on Chris Sale Hill, saying this is his rotation now. He took the ball into the 9th for the first time in his career and, other than a rocky fifth, looked surgical.

That top of the 8th? Five pitches. Done. Out trots Cora to let him finish what he started, with Aaron Judge looming for a fourth at-bat.

Judge had gone down swinging three straight times. In fact, in their six meetings this year, Judge was a clean 0-for-6 with six Ks against Crochet.

So naturally, on attempt No. 7, he launches one to the moon. Crochet missed down and in just a hair — just enough for Judge to unleash hell. 443 feet, 115 mph off the bat, gone over the Monster. Not even close.

Aaron Judge in the 9th

And this wasn’t your usual Judge reaction. There was pimping. There was a dugout stare. Cold-blooded stuff.

Unfortunately, that only tied the game for the Yanks and sent last night’s game at Fenway into extra innings. That’s a problem because the Yankees are quite literally the worst team in baseball at scoring in the top of the 10th.

Yankees are 12-26 (.316) in road games of 10+ innings since 2020.

They treat free runners like burdens and right on cue, Anthony Volpe decides to get a little too bold, trying to swipe third. Originally safe, overturned on review. The replay showed his hand got caught up on the slide. Tag beat him by an inch.

Carlos Narváez guns down Anthony Volpe

Honestly, that’s just a boneheaded play there by Volpe. Why was he even running there? No outs and a solid arm behind the plate with the Yankees lineup not exactly cooking. Unless you’re 100 percent, it really doesn’t make much sense.

Then came the DJ LeMahieu foul call.

That ball was fair, and somehow the review still got it wrong.

It’s 2025. We’ve got self-driving trucks and AI bots pretending to be your grandma, and this is still the camera angle we’re using to decide fair or foul? Tennis figured this out a decade ago. MLB still stuck in the dark ages.

LeMahieu gets tossed for calmly saying it was a “brutal call,” which it was. Boone had already been ejected. The Yankees were now playing short-staffed emotionally and tactically.

Fittingly, Narvaez walked it off in the bottom half after getting a gift 1-2 meatball from Hill. Ballgame.

Narvaez Walk Off for the Red Sox

The Yankees drop to 1-3 against Boston and continue to be mid against their own division (8-9 against the AL East). The Judge homer ends up wasted. Fenway goes wild. The Yankees look lost. Again.

Meanwhile, I’m over here just enjoying good baseball after watching The Fightins dismantle the Toronto Blue Jays at The Bank.

Ranger Suárez shoves, Schwarber goes deep as Phillies blank Blue Jays 8-0

Saturday’s matchup is Rodon vs. Dobbins. If they don’t have Lance Dobbins from Eastbound & Down throw the first pitch, what are we even doing?

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