Judge, Jazz go back to back as Yanks mash early in G5

NEW YORK -- And with that, all rose as one at Yankee Stadium. Finally.

The full might of Aaron Judge at last entered the Fall Classic. With the long-awaited mighty swing of his bat, he dealt the first blow of the back-to-back homers with Jazz Chisholm Jr. in the first inning as the Yankees roared to an early lead in Game 5 -- only to watch the Dodgers storm back for a 7-6 victory and the 2024 World Series championship.

Following a one-out walk to Juan Soto, Judge got a first-pitch fastball from Dodgers starter Jack Flaherty -- and this time, he did not miss, sending the baseball a Statcast-projected 403 feet to right-center and into a frenzied swarm of Bleacher Creatures. It marked the first World Series home run of Judge's career, his first extra-base hit of this World Series and his third big fly of the postseason.

The Yankees’ lineup had been 0-for-13 in the first inning of World Series games before Judge set the resounding tone -- and, for both games at Yankee Stadium leading into his blast, he’d looked to be building in the right direction.

Judge’s plate discipline looked to find some footing as he went 0-for-3 with a walk in Game 3 on Monday. A day later, he took a hit-by-pitch and a walk and knocked an RBI single as he reached base multiple times in a game for the first time since Game 4 of the ALCS.

And now, the culmination of it all.

“With Aaron, it's always one pitch away from getting as hot as anyone's ever seen,” Yankees skipper Aaron Boone said before the game.

With the captain at the helm, the crew followed, with Chisholm’s 392-foot blast -- his first since ALDS Game 2 -- giving the Yankees back-to-back blasts for the 14th time in club postseason history and for the fifth time in their storied history in the World Series.