Judge tips Rice ahead of Scherzer changeup, leading to HR - ESPN

NEW YORK — Aaron Judge helped the New York Yankees with his arms even before saving a run with his glove by signaling Max Scherzer's pitch tipping ahead of Ben Rice's three-run homer in Sunday's 4-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.

Standing off second base, Judge spread his arms ahead of a pair of Scherzer changeups in the first inning after getting a signal from Cody Bellinger, the runner at first. Rice prolonged his at-bat with a long foul ball on the full-count pitch, then homered off a fastball on the 10th pitch of the at-bat for a 3-0 lead.

«They're good at it,» Toronto manager John Schneider said. «Max has got to be a little bit better. It was obvious in the changeups, Rice just missed one, foul homer, and it's fair game.»

Playing just his second game in right field since hurting his throwing arm in late July, Judge made a diving catch on George Springer's 106.4 mph sinking liner to strand a runner at second base in the fourth. New York won for the 11th time in 14 games and closed within two games of AL East-leading Toronto.

Scherzer threw his changeup 17 times over 4⅓ innings and admitted opponents had told him they can figure out from first base when he throws the pitch.

«I thought I had addressed it. I thought I had made the proper adjustment to get my glove in front of my face but clearly I hadn't,» Scherzer said.

Scherzer threw three changeups to Rice. Judge didn't signal on the first, with an 0-2 count, but spread his arms before Rice took a changeup on the sixth pitch of the at-bat to work the count full.

Judge spread his arm again before Scherzer followed with another changeup, which Rice fouled into the last row of the right field second deck.

First baseman Ty France went to the mound to alert Scherzer.