TORONTO — Before turning heads with a 462-foot home run, it was Aaron Judge’s eyes that were drawing the attention from the Blue Jays’ broadcast, and later their clubhouse.
During his at-bat in the eighth inning of the Yankees’ 7-4 win on Monday night, Judge could be seen quickly shifting his eyes towards the Yankees’ dugout on the first-base side of Rogers Centre before multiple pitches.
The glances caught the attention of the Blue Jays’ Sportsnet broadcasters, who wondered whether Judge was trying to see where catcher Alejandro Kirk was set up or something else.
After the third pitch of the at-bat, Aaron Boone got ejected for arguing a low called strike.
The sixth pitch was a slider down over the plate that Judge crushed to center field for his second home run of the night.
Judge attributed his eye activity to his unhappiness with his teammates still getting on home plate umpire Clint Vondrak.
“There was a lot of chirping from our dugout, which I really didn’t like in the situation where it’s a 6-0 game,” Judge said. “I know Boonie got tossed — I was trying to save Boonie by calling timeout, like, ‘Hold up here, let me work.’ I was trying to see who was chirping in the dugout. It’s 6-0. Boonie got tossed, let’s just go to work.”
Read Related Also: Kansas: Democrat who defied Party on trans sports threatened with death by colleagues
Judge said he appreciated Boone sticking up for him, but after the ejection, he thought that was enough from the Yankees’ dugout.
“I feel like after the manager does his thing, it’s like, ‘Fellas, our pitchers still gotta go out there and make some pitches. We got the lead, let’s just go to work here,’ ” Judge said. “I said a couple things to some guys in the dugout and especially after the game. But hopefully it won’t happen again.”
The Blue Jays, meanwhile, seemed to think there was more going on.
“It’s kind of odd that a hitter would be looking in that direction,” manager John Schneider told reporters. “He’s obviously looking in that direction for a reason.”
Boone, who said he heard some of the broadcast talking about Judge’s glances in the clubhouse after he got ejected, had the same explanation as his captain.
“There was some chirping going from our side, obviously when I got thrown out, and then it continued,” Boone said. “I think a lot of our guys were still letting them hear it and Judgie was kind of looking over like, ‘I’m hitting here.’ ”
