New York Yankees captain Aaron Judge hit four hits today, batting percentage back to 4 percent, and Ben Rice blasted his first career slam to help the team beat the Athletics 12-2 on the road, winning the fourth win in the last five games.
Although Judge hit the first hit today, the next four hits were hits, including hitting a two-point hit at a two-base hit when one out of the first inning was full, completing the Yankees' five-point winning offense in a single inning, and hitting a second-base hit in the fourth inning.
After hitting four hits in five hits, his batting average returned to above 4 percent after a two-day absence, bringing his batting average to 0.409/0.494/0.779 (batting average/base-on/batting average) after 40 games this season. With the exception of Judge, there are currently only 18 batters in the major league who have a 30% batting average, and the closest to him is his Yankees teammate Paul Goldschmidt with a batting average of 0.349, a whopping 0.06.2.
Goldschmidt also hit three hits today, both at second base, to score two RBIs, while Jasson Dominguez and Anthony Volpe each hit two RBIs, with Volpe hitting a winning blot in the second inning. The Yankees hit 15 hits in the game, and although there was only one home run, this home run was a slam shot by Rice in the fifth inning, helping the Yankees hit a five-point overall game for the second time in a single game.
It was Rice's first career slam shot, and captain Judge said: "Seeing him score so many points widens the gap and allows everyone to relax and do their thing. It's a big blow for Benny, and it's for the team."
Luis Severino, an athletic starting pitcher who used to play for the Yankees, was shot out in four innings and hit 9 hits and lost 8 points, and his defense rate regressed to 4.70.
Yankees starting pitcher Ryan Yarbrough threw five innings, threw two strikeouts, one bad and four bads, hit six hits and conceded two points, and won his first win in Game 10 and Game 2 of the season. Yerry De los Santos relayed 3 innings without hits and no points conceded and got the relay.