"Judge’s Spectacular Glove Work Steals the Spotlight in Yankees’ Victory"

In the Yankees’ 5-2 victory over the Nationals in the series opener at Nationals Park, Judge remained homerless but stunned with his glove. The Yankees star made a spectacular leaping catch at the left-center field wall, turning a potential game-tying home run into a double play. This defensive gem, which robbed former Yankees prospect Andres Chaparro and doubled off James Wood at first base to end the fourth inning, was a highlight of the game and added to Judge’s likely AL MVP reel. Later in the game, Judge also notched his 1,000th career hit with an opposite-field single.
“To have a guy out there who can climb walls and catch balls that might be going out, it’s just another plus for a guy who does it all,” said Austin Wells, who also had a strong night defensively by picking off a runner at second base and hitting his 10th home run of the season.
The Yankees (78-54) got solo home runs from Gleyber Torres, Wells, and Jazz Chisholm Jr., securing their fifth win in six games and maintaining the best record in the American League. The victory also extended their AL East lead to two games over the idle Orioles. Anthony Volpe contributed with a three-hit game, scoring twice on sacrifice flies from DJ LeMahieu.
Judge’s defensive play was part of an overall strong defensive effort that supported Nestor Cortes, who limited the Nationals (59-73) to just one run over 6 ²/₃ innings. Alex Verdugo, who also had a three-hit game, made a terrific catch while crashing into the left field wall with a runner on second base in the second inning. Despite jamming his right knee, Verdugo played the rest of the game, describing the incident with humor.
Judge took inspiration from Verdugo’s effort and topped it with his own wall-crashing catch two innings later, preserving the Yankees’ lead. “Dugie really set the tone earlier by basically running through another wall,” Judge said. “As a teammate, you’ve got to go out there and match that energy. … To help [Cortes] out there and get one back, have a little double play there, I was pretty pumped up about that one.”
Cortes was equally appreciative, crediting his defense for helping him go deeper into the game. He carried a shutout into the seventh inning before Juan Yepez snapped it with a solo home run.
Gleyber Torres set the tone early with his second home run in as many days. Volpe followed with a double and scored on LeMahieu’s sacrifice fly in the fourth. Wells extended the lead with his homer in the sixth, and Chisholm capped the scoring with his 21st home run of the season, his eighth in 18 games as a Yankee.
On a night when Judge didn’t go deep, he still found a way to make a significant impact, with manager Aaron Boone calling his catch Judge’s “52nd homer of the year.” “He’s really good at this stuff,” Boone said. “The night they keep him in the ballpark, he takes one back from the other side. Just a little reminder of how many other things he does well.”