Yankees fail to make Mets pay for walking Aaron Judge 4 times - ESPN

NEW YORK — The New York Mets' pitching strategy against Aaron Judge on Tuesday was simple: Pitch around the sizzling slugger and make someone else beat them. It worked to perfection in a 3-2 win at Yankee Stadium to improve to 3-0 against the Yankees this season with a chance to sweep the season series Wednesday.

The Mets walked Judge in each of his first four plate appearances — the fourth time intentionally — and left him stranded each time before he struck out in the ninth inning. It was the fourth time Judge has been walked four times in his career and the second time in 2024. Judge's 79 walks this season rank second in the majors — behind only teammate Juan Soto's 81.

Judge entered the night 2-for-6 with a double and a walk in his career against Mets starter Jose Quintana. He saw 14 pitches in his three plate appearances opposite Quintana. He took one called strike and fouled off another pitch. The other 12 pitches were balls.

«He was being careful, especially with what Soto's doing in front of me and what we've been doing all year,» said Judge, who is batting .309 with 35 home runs and a 1.114 OPS this season. «I think they're just trying to be a little careful and you just got to pass the baton to the next time.»

Judge passed the baton Tuesday three times to first baseman J.D. Davis, and Davis failed to take advantage. The veteran infielder struck out to end the first and fifth innings. In between, he grounded into the double play to end the third frame.

Davis was in the lineup batting fourth to counter the left-handed Quintana as manager Aaron Boone continues to shuffle the lineup around to find production from players not named Soto and Judge and with Giancarlo Stanton still at least a few days away from