Written by Dan Martin at New York Post.com
Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez have hit home runs at a record-setting pace since arriving in The Bronx.
In Sunday night’s season-extending, 1-0 win over the Indians in Game 3 of the ALDS, they kept the Yankees alive with their defense.
Judge saved a two-run home run by Francisco Lindor in the sixth inning to keep the game scoreless, which it remained until Greg Bird gave the Yankees the lead in the bottom of the seventh with a solo shot off Andrew Miller.
And Sanchez, criticized for his difficulty in preventing wild pitches, made several superb blocks behind the plate on Masahiro Tanaka splitters in the dirt with Jason Kipnis on third in the fourth inning.
But it was Judge’s play that really made the difference on a night he went 0-for-3 with three strikeouts and a walk.
After Tanaka gave up a leadoff single to Roberto Perez in the sixth, he got Giovanny Urshela to fly out to right.
Lindor, whose sixth-inning grand slam at Progressive Field on Friday turned around Game 2 — a game the Indians went on to win in 13 innings — nearly went deep again.
He sent a Tanaka pitch deep to right. Judge went back, just in front of the wall, and at 6-foot-7, he had to jump only a few inches to get his glove above the fence, where he kept the ball in the park — and away from ball hawk Zack Hample, who famously caught Alex Rodriguez’s 3000th hit.
Tanaka twice doffed his cap in Judge’s direction after the play before Judge responded with a smile.
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