CINCINNATI — Getting Aaron Judge to admit that he feels “locked in” at the plate is akin to getting a Yankees fan to profess undying love for the Red Sox.
It just isn’t going to happen. Under any circumstance.
In the case of Judge, he doesn’t really have to do that. The results speak for themselves. And they’ve been speaking — loudly — during the past week-plus.
The reigning American League MVP produced four hits, including a go-ahead RBI single in the 10th, to help the Yankees earn a 7-4 victory over the Reds in 10 innings on Saturday in front of 31,374 at Great American Ball Park.
After Judge’s one-out RBI single in the 10th off right-hander Ian Gibaut snapped a 4-4 tie, Anthony Rizzo’s 11th homer, a two-run shot, made it 7-4. Judge and Rizzo had three RBIs each.
Judge, who came into the day slashing .342/.468/.947 with seven homers, two doubles, nine walks and 13 RBIs in his previous 10 games, finished 4 for 4 with a walk, three RBIs and a run. He is hitting .299 with a 1.042 OPS overall.
The Yankees (28-20), who have won 13 of their last 18, outhit the Reds 13-5 and came back from a 4-1 deficit. They improved to 5-1 on this trip, which concludes here Sunday morning.
After the outburst in the top of the 10th — neither team had scored after the Yankees rallied for three runs in the fifth to tie it at 4-4 — soft-tossing righty Ryan Weber struck out one in a perfect bottom half for his second career save.
The afternoon became a battle of bullpens fairly early as neither starter distinguished himself. Jhony Brito wasn’t sharp in allowing four runs, four hits and four walks in four innings and his counterpart, Luke Weaver, pitched to about the same effectiveness. Weaver allowed four runs and eight hits in 4 1/3 innings.
After the Yankees failed to score in the first — Gleyber Torres and Judge led off with back-to-back singles but Rizzo short-circuited things by grounding into a 4-6-3 double play — the Reds took the lead in the bottom half. Matt McLain walked with one out and moved to second on Brito's balk. Jake Fraley then singled sharply to center for a 1-0 lead.
The Yankees tied it in the third. Catcher Ben Rortvedt, playing in his first big league game with the Yankees, led off with a double to left field, missing a homer by a couple of feet. After Torres struck out, Judge lined a single off the same wall to tie it at 1-1.
Brito quickly retired the first two hitters in the bottom half, then completely lost the strike zone, walking Jonathan India, McLain and Fraley to load the bases. Spencer Steer then sent a grounder to the hole at short, where Anthony Volpe fielded the ball but had no play at first, and the infield single made it 2-1.
The Reds added on in the fourth, again with two outs. Jose Barrero reached on an infield single and No. 9 hitter Luke Maile crushed a 2-and-1 change-up to left for his third homer and a 4-1 lead.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa homered to center with one out in the fifth to make it 4-2. Rortvedt followed with his second hit and Torres lined a single to left. Judge made it four straight hits with an RBI double to left and Weaver’s afternoon was done as left-hander Alex Young came in to face Rizzo. He lined a single to right to tie it at 4-4, though Judge, trying to score from second, was thrown out at the plate.
