Judge matches pace from record-setting 2022 with 30th HR

NEW YORK -- A selection of vintage baseball jerseys hung in the visitors clubhouse as the Yankees arrived at Citi Field for Wednesday’s game. Players would dress like heroes of yesteryear on their flight north of the border, which makes sense, since Aaron Judge is sure making it feel like 2022.

Judge hit his Major League-leading 30th home run in the sixth inning of the Yankees’ 12-2 Subway Series loss to the Mets. Much like at the tail end of a season in which he chased Roger Maris’ single-season American League home run record of 61, Judge is trying to power his team out of a skid.

Though manager Aaron Boone said that Judge’s performance continues to be “remarkable,” the captain alone couldn’t rescue the Bombers from their ninth defeat in 12 games, and a fourth consecutive series loss.

“You never want to lose two games like that, especially against a team here in New York,” Judge said. “But we’ve got to show up tomorrow. That’s the beauty of this game. We get an opportunity to rewrite the script the next day.”

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Luis Gil was knocked for five runs in 4 1/3 innings, including Francisco Alvarez’s two-run homer in the third, part of a three-hit, three-RBI night for the Mets catcher.

As such, the game felt out of hand when Judge connected with a Danny Young sweeper following an 87-minute rain delay, sending a 400-foot drive into the left-field seats that trimmed the Yanks’ deficit to five runs at the time.

“It sucks. You don’t like getting your teeth kicked in,” Boone said. “It’s been a crappy two weeks for us, but it’s part of it. Adversity is going to hit you. We got hit with a little bit right now. We have all the right pieces in there.

“We’ve had a light shined on some things. We need to get better at things, and we need to get it going. But [I have] full confidence that we will. We’re just in a little bit of a rough patch right now.”

Though Judge homered twice in Queens, both blasts came with lopsided scores, including a grand slam late in Tuesday’s 9-7 loss. Judge has equaled his pace from two years ago, when he hit his 30th home run that season in the team’s 82nd game, on July 9, 2022, at Boston.

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One of the few threats in a lineup racked by injuries and underperformance of late, Judge has five homers in his last eight games (since June 16) and 26 in his last 55 games (since April 24).

“Just more great at-bats tonight by him,” Boone said. “I’m running out of adjectives and superlatives. It’s amazing what he’s doing.”

The homer off Young was the 287th of Judge’s career, tying Bernie Williams for seventh place on the franchise’s all-time list.

“It’s great, but nothing we’re really focused on,” Judge said. “We’ve got a season ahead of us, a lot of ballgames ahead of us. We’ve got a great Toronto team for the next four days. We’ve got to show up and do what we do.”

Judge is the third player in Major League history to hit at least 30 homers prior to an All-Star break three times in his career, having also done it in 2017 (30) and ’22 (33). The others are Mark McGwire (1987, ’97-98, 2000) and Ken Griffey, Jr. (1994, ’97-98).

Tyrone Taylor and Harrison Bader hit late homers off reliever Yoendrys Gómez, and with the Yanks trailing by nine in the eighth inning, Boone sent Trent Grisham up to pinch-hit for Judge in the eighth inning. Judge appeared displeased by the move.

“I want every at-bat,” Judge said. “The game is never over, so I want every at-bat. But I’m not the manager. He makes the call. I wasn’t upset at all.”

The blowout defeat took some of the steam out of what was supposed to be a fun flight to Toronto, with players invited to sport their favorite uniform tops on the flight.

Still, there were tributes to Babe Ruth (DJ LeMahieu), Mickey Mantle (Jahmai Jones), Roberto Clemente (Jose Trevino), Willie Mays (Alex Verdugo), Mariano Rivera (Clay Holmes), Garret Anderson (Gerrit Cole), Giancarlo Stanton (Nestor Cortes) and Barry Larkin (Tommy Kahnle).

Judge selected a Derek Jeter road jersey, paying homage to his predecessor as captain.

“I had a few choices. This was the right one,” he said.