WASHINGTON — Aaron Judge established a new rule Monday night: If he doesn’t hit a home run, his opponents won’t either — at least on his watch.
The Nationals did the impossible and kept Judge in the park, so the Yankees center fielder returned the favor by dropping jaws with his glove.
Judge made a running leap into the left-center field wall that turned a potential home run into a double play, highlighting the Yankees’ 5-2 victory over the Nationals in the series opener at Nationals Park.
While Judge remained at 51 homers, having hit seven homers in his last six games before Monday, his defensive gem (robbing former Yankees prospect Andres Chaparro and doubling James Wood to first base to end the fourth inning) became the latest addition to his likely AL MVP list.
Judge also recorded his 1,000th career hit with a single the other way.
The Yankees (78-54) got solo home runs from Gleyber Torres, Austin Wells and Jazz Chisholm Jr. to win for the fifth time in their last six games, maintain the American League’s best record and extend their lead in the American League East to two games over the idle Orioles.
Anthony Volpe also had a three-hit game and scored twice on sacrifice flies by DJ LeMahieu.
Judge’s steal was one of three plays that helped Nestor Cortes limit the Nationals (59-73) to just one run in 6 ²/₃ innings.
Alex Verdugo, who had a three-hit game, also made a great running catch in the left-field wall – and avoided getting his right knee jammed on the play – while Wells intercepted a runner at second base to help Cortes out of another jam.
Cortes blanked the ball until the seventh inning before Juan Yepez ended the game with a solo home run.
Before that, Cortes had pitched 20 ¹/₃ consecutive scoreless innings, a significant turnaround for the left-hander as the Yankees head into the end of the season.
He helped himself in the sixth inning by striking out three runners after putting runners on second and third base to start the inning.
Torres led off the game with his second home run in as many days, this one off left-hander Mitchell Parker to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead.
After a brutal start to the season, Torres has found his feet in the last two months, allowing him to reclaim the role of first goalscorer in the last 10 games with good results.
After Volpe doubled and scored on LeMahieu’s first sacrifice bunt in the fourth inning, Wells led off the sixth with his 10th home run of the year off right-handed reliever Tanner Rainey.
Volpe followed with a single up the middle and rushed to second when center fielder Jacob Young fumbled the ball.
The Yankees got a scare on that play when Volpe’s helmetless head collided with the knee of shortstop C.J. Abrams at second base.
But after being examined by a trainer, Volpe stayed in the game and continued running.
He stole third base, which allowed him to score on LeMahieu’s sacrifice fly to make it 4-0.
Chisholm made it 5-1 in the eighth inning by hitting his 21st home run of the season — his eighth in 18 games as a Yankee — off left-handed reliever Joe La Sorsa.
Mark Leiter Jr. gave up a solo home run to Young in the eighth inning, but Clay Holmes worked a clean ninth inning for his 28th save of the year.
