Amid a 6-16 abysmal stretch, captain Aaron Judge guided the New York Yankees to a revival 4-1 victory on Friday against AL-East leaders Baltimore Orioles. After Jose Trevino got runs on the board with a dual RBI, Judge smoked his 34th season home run in the third inning to add to the early lead.
Gerrit Cole and company pitched phenomenally well to restrict Orioles to just 1 run. However, the Yankees victory was overshadowed by a brawl that broke out between both dugouts following a hit by pitch incident. Meanwhile, Aaron Judge admitted that frustration between the AL-East rivals had been piling up for a while which resulted into a boil over on Friday.
Aaron Judge Breaks Silence On Yankees-Orioles Bench Clearing Incident!
The Camden Yards ballpark turned into a wrestling ring on Friday as AL-East competitors New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles were involved in an ugly physical altercation. The visitors were winning 4-1 when closer Clay Holmes drilled a 97 mph sinker at Orioles rookie Heston Kjerstad. The nasty blow that injured Heston irked Orioles manager Brandon Hyde as he charged down at the Yankee dugout. Both benches got cleared within minutes, and several punches were thrown before umpires intervened to separate the fight. Notably, the seed of the Yankee-Oriole rivalry was sown at the Yankee Stadium earlier this season when the duo clashed for the first time.
Orioles pitchers hit Aaron Judge with a wild pitch that left the captain injured. Moreover, Yankee reliever Victor Gonzalez drilled Gunnar Henderson a day later to seek revenge. Hence, the tensions that flared earlier in the season boiled over into a nasty brawl on Friday said Aaron Judge. In the post-game interview, Aaron Judge admitted that both sides had received multiple blows back and forth into the season. And with the competition in AL-East also heating up, the tensions escalated in that situation. “Tension just kinda rose there in a situation where they are down in the game and getting a little heated,” Aaron Judge said. When asked if he expects the tensions to spill over for the rest of the series, the Yankees captain said his team has bigger things to focus on. The Yankees need to win games, and that will be the ultimate goal for them this weekend.
Brandon Hyde Pins Blame On Yankees Dugout For Friday Brawl
Meanwhile, Baltimore Orioles manager Brandon Hyde, who led the Friday brawl, accused the Yankee dugout of saying nasty things and using unacceptable gestures towards him following Heston Kjerstad’s hit-by-pitch incident. “I’m just walking back, and I heard stuff from their dugout, so I just reacted the way I did,” Hyde said in the post-game interview.
On the other hand, New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone justified Brandon Hyde’s aggression, saying emotions spilled over in the heat of the moment. Hyde saw his player getting drilled and it was a scary moment for him as a manager. Hence, Boone completely understands Hyde’s situation and empathised with him for his heated reaction.
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