The New York Yankees are happy to have record-setting power hitter Aaron Judge back in the lineup after he missed extensive time during the regular season.
How happy? Judge blasted a two-run homer off Oakland A’s opener Liam Hendriks in the first inning of Wednesday’s American League Wildcard game.
With Hendriks struggling finding the strike zone early in the game, Judge took a hanger and absolutely destroyed it to give the Bronx Bombers an early 2-0 lead.
All rise for Aaron Judge! Yankees lead 2-0 with a crushing first inning homer off Liam Hendriks pic.twitter.com/En02zjMBHS
— Ryan Songalia (@ryansongalia) October 4, 2018
For his part, it seemed Hendriks was a bit too amped for the start of the game. He had walked Andrew McCutchen on five pitches before giving up this long ball to Judge.
This is one of the reasons these Yankees are among the most-feared teams heading into the playoffs. After all, they did break the single-season home run record. Hendriks and the A’s found out first-hand the dangers of this lineup on Wednesday.