Judge Homers Twice in Yankees Win, Narrowly Missing a Third

BALTIMORE — The new wall in left field at Camden Yards served its purpose, denying Aaron Judge a home run on his 399-foot drive in the first inning.

“I learned my lesson and decided to go to right field after that,” he said.

The ballpark couldn’t hold Judge’s next two hits, a pair of solo homers that gave him a major league-leading 14, and helped the Yankees to a 5-4 win over the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday night. Judge and reliever Michael King were the biggest stars of this victory, New York’s 20th in its last 23 games.

Judge’s two homers went 410 and 422 feet, according to Statcast, after his double was just under 400. Judge’s reaction to the new dimensions at Camden Yards was about what you’d expect from a right-handed slugger.

“It’s a travesty man. I’m pretty upset,” Judge said. “It looks like a create-a-park now. I didn’t like it because I always like coming here and playing here. Hopefully maybe in a couple years they can put it back in.”

Ramón Urías homered for the Orioles, who matched a season high with their fifth straight loss. Down by 5-3, Baltimore managed a run against Aroldis Chapman in the ninth on a two-out double by Ryan McKenna. With men on second and third, Chapman retired Cedric Mullins on a foul pop for his ninth save in nine chances.

Jameson Taillon (4-1) allowed three runs in five-plus innings. King came on after a leadoff double in the sixth and retired all nine of his hitters with six strikeouts before giving way to Chapman.

Mets Split Doubleheader With Cardinals

Tyler O’Neill redeemed himself after setting a Cardinals record for a doubleheader with six strikeouts, beating out a tiebreaking infield single in the ninth inning as St. Louis beat the Mets, 4-3, Tuesday night to split their twin bill.

After the Mets tied it in the eighth, St. Louis drew two walks against Joely Rodríguez (0-2) in the ninth. Pinch-hitter Nolan Arenado struck out against ex-Rockies teammate Adam Ottavino for the second out.

O’Neill then hit a weak roller off Ottavino. Sure-handed third baseman Eduardo Escobar charged hard but double clutched at the ball, allowing the speedy O’Neill to reach first while Brendan Donovan scored from third.

Giovanny Gallegos allowed one-out singles to Dominic Smith and Luis Guillorme in the ninth, then struck out Mark Canha and Francisco Lindor for his seventh save.

Paul Goldschmidt had three hits in the nightcap as St. Louis played its first doubleheader this year. He also homered in the opener, but Jeff McNeil and Dominic Smith helped the Mets chip away at Miles Mikolas, and Trevor Williams was sharp in a spot start in a 3-1 win.

New York tied the late game on McNeil’s R.B.I. single with one out in the eighth — one batter after Escobar reached on a dropped third strike. Ryan Helsley (2-0) got Escobar to whiff at a breaking ball, but catcher Andrew Knizner also missed it with a stab in the dirt.

Mets leadoff man Brandon Nimmo ended a 26-game on-base streak in the opener and left the nightcap after fouling a ball off his right knee.

Canha and Escobar gave the Mets early leads with solo homers in Game 2, but St. Louis erased them with Goldschmidt’s first R.B.I. double and Tommy Edman’s R.B.I. triple.

Goldschmidt made it 3-2 with another double in the fifth against Mets starter Taijuan Walker, who gave up three runs in five innings. The right-hander got a bases-loaded lineout from the struggling O’Neill for his final out, finishing with four strikeouts, two walks and seven hits allowed.

O’Neill was given Sunday and Monday off with hopes of shaking off a slow start to the season. He entered Tuesday hitting .193 with two homers and a .561 on-base plus slugging percentage, then went 2 for 9 with six strikeouts, most ever by a Cardinals player in a doubleheader, according to SNY.

The two-time Gold Glove-winning left fielder also let a foul pop-up drop in front of him during New York’s eighth-inning rally in Game 2, his second misplay of the day on a ball in that area.

Ex-Mets pitcher Steven Matz completed five innings for the Cardinals, allowing two runs on three hits. Matz made his second start at Citi Field since New York traded him to Toronto after the 2020 season.

McNeil and Smith each had two hits in Game 1, including an RBI double apiece in the third inning. McNeil also narrowly missed a homer foul during a 12-pitch at-bat against Mikolas in the first and Smith singled and scored on a groundout in the second.

“A lot of good at-bats,” Mets Manager Buck Showalter said. “We didn’t strike out a whole lot off him until later on. He’s a good one. He’s got a lot of weapons.”

New York, coming off its first series loss this year against Seattle, has won 12 straight games following a defeat.

Williams threw four scoreless innings in a spot start for injured Tylor Megill. Jake Reed (1-0) walked two of his first three hitters but still followed Williams with two scoreless innings in his 2022 debut.