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Aaron Judge continued on the pursuit for his 61st home run, and we’ll get to that, but there’s plenty to more to check out from yesterday in baseball.
Today’s Headlines
Aaron Judge stays stuck at 60
Since Aaron Judge hit his 60th home run of the season and it seemed inevitable that he would plow past the 61-home run plateau, the Yankee slugger’s power stroke has gone cold. Part of that, however, has been opposing pitcher’s willingness — or lack thereof to — to pitch to him.
The New York outfielder is on-basing comfortably above .500 as he seeks the milestone homer. He boosted that rate on Tuesday by walking four times against the Blue Jays. While the trope with players sitting on milestones may be that they’re pressing to try to make history, it appears Judge isn’t pressing at all, and rather pitchers just don’t want to face him.
Judge is still holding a lead in the Triple Crown categories and is slashing .314/.422/.695 on the season.
Despite not getting to see No. 61, fans in attendance were treated to the Yankees clinching the AL East with a victory. Judge will take the field again tomorrow trying to chase that elusive home run.
Cards clinch central
The Yankees weren’t alone in wrapping up their division race on Tuesday. The Cardinals beat the Brewers, 6-2, to officially clinch the NL Central crown.
St. Louis is 90-65 and now has a 7.5 game lead over the second-place Brew Crew which is insurmountable with the little bit of the regular season remaining.
By clinching the division, St. Louis joins the Dodgers, Guardians, Astros, and Yankees as winning their respective divisions. The NL East remains the only division up for grabs now as the playoff positioning crystalizes.
Your 2022 NL Central Champions!#STLCards | #GrindThePepper pic.twitter.com/9iiO92SkwZ
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) September 28, 2022
Acuña blasts pair of homers
Ronald Acuña Jr. had himself quite the game against the Nationals on Tuesday. The Braves’ star outfielder hit home runs in the fifth and seventh innings to help power the Braves to an 8-2 victory over Washington.
Ronald Acuña Jr. has three home runs in his last nine games played, including tonight. Acuña playing up to his potential would be very good news for the Braves, and very scary news for their peers. pic.twitter.com/eBNxUxF5Me
— Justin Toscano (@JustinCToscano) September 28, 2022
With a Mets loss to the Marlins, Atlanta made up a game in the standings to pull into a tie with New York for the NL East lead. The two teams will meet this weekend with the division on the line.
Acuña seems to be finding his power stroke at the right time as the young outfielder’s home run total is now up to 15 on the season.
Best Moments From Yesterday
Sister Jean throws first pitch
Sister Jean captured the hearts of sports fans when her beloved Loyola Chicago men’s basketball team made a run to the 2018 Final Four.
Sister Jean, now 103, hasn’t lost a step — or her fastball. On Tuesday she was tasked with throwing at the first pitch before the Phillies-Cubs game, and she delivered.
Sister Jean first pitch at 103 years old ❤️ @MLBpic.twitter.com/43MULt2sFV
— B/R Walk-Off (@BRWalkoff) September 27, 2022
Richard Blier balks three times
Richard Blier hadn’t had a balk called on him in his major league career. That is, until Tuesday evening. With a runner on first base, all hell broke loose as Blier was called for not one, not two, but three balks. As a result, the runner came all the way around to score thanks to Blier.
Don Mattingly was not pleased with the decision.
That's three balks in the inning for Bleier. This one brings in a run and Don Mattingly is being ejected pic.twitter.com/Y1gWvKNnlM
— Shea Station (@shea_station) September 28, 2022
Injuries
Yordan Alvarez’s X-rays came back negative
Adrian Houser headed to the 15-day IL
Byron Buxton underwent knee surgery
Michael Kopech won’t pitch again this season
Tim Anderson won’t return this year
Nick Castellanos was activated from the IL
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Featured image by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns on Twitter)