The stage was set for Aaron Judge to be the hero in the 10th inning of Thursday's matchup between the Yankees and Mariners.
After being no-hit for seven innings, the Yankees came back from five runs down to force extra innings and they were 90 feet away from taking the game and sweeping Seattle.
With the bases loaded and one out, Judge drove a hanging slider into shallow center field. Julio Rodriguez caught it and launched the ball to catcher Cal Raleigh at home. Anthony Volpe, who was on third, scampered home, but the throw beat him home. However, the Yankee shortstop dove headfirst and did a swim move to avoid the tag and get his hand onto home plate to seal the 6-5 win.
"That was sick. Totally went around him, got his hand in there," Austin Wells, whose two-run single tied the game in the ninth, said after the game. "That was a great slide."
"Rodriguez made a great throw but what a great slide by Volpe," manager Aaron Boone said of the play. "I had the best seat in the house for it. I saw his hand go right in there. I saw the throw was on target, I’m like, ‘oh no,’ but I saw his hand in there and Volpe jumped up safe. It was a good call by [homeplate umpire Nic Lentz]."
With how shallow Judge's fly ball was, Boone was asked if Volpe's speed and ability to make slides like that are in the thought process to send him. Boone pointed to the situation as the deciding factor for the send of Volpe.
"With that being the second out there, you gotta force them to make the perfect throw," Boone explained. "Rodriguez, as good as he is, still has to make a perfect throw, which he actually did. But it’s absolutely have to go there."
Volpe's slide not only extended the Yankees' winning streak to four, but it gave Judge his first career walk-off sac fly. It also capped the Yankees' biggest comeback win since May 2023, when they trailed by six runs. It was especially impressive considering they were down by five runs after being no-hit by Mariners starter Bryan Woo for seven innings.
More impressive is that the Yankees are only the second team in the Expansion Era (since 1961) to win a game after going hitless and trailing by at least five runs through seven innings, according to Elias. The other team, the 1977 Pirates.
“I knew who was at third. My whole thought going into [that at-bat] was get the ball somewhere in the air and let 11 take care of the rest," Judge said. "Impressive. What a great slide. Nobody else I want at third in a situation like that besides Volpe."
Volpe finished 0-for-4 in Thursday's game, including flying out with an opportunity to walk-off the Mariners in the ninth inning. He's now only slashing .215/.290/.387 on the season. But the Yankees are happy to see their shortstop still find ways to impact and win them games.
A walk-off sac fly for Aaron Judge! pic.twitter.com/Ke2EVFkTaL
— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) July 11, 2025
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