How Yankees' Aaron Judge showed 'what makes him special'

Yankees star Aaron Judge’s home run pushed his team to a 4-3 win over the Mets at Citi Field on Saturday.

NEW YORK — Aaron Judge has seen the fifth-most pitches in the league this year at 1,195.

So Mets reliever Anthony Swarzak wasn’t the only surprised when the Yankees‘ star crushed the go-ahead home run off Swarzak’s first pitch of the night in a 4-3 win over the Mets on Saturday at Citi Field.

Sure, it didn’t help that Swarzak couldn’t have put his hanging slider in a better place for Judge if he left it on a batting tee.

But that last year’s American League Rookie of the Year went after the first pitch at all was a bit of a shocker.

To everyone but manager Aaron Boone, apparently.

“That’s one of the things that makes him special, his ability to control the zone,” Boone said.

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Judge said against Swarzak, with whom he played in 2016, he just didn’t want to fall behind in the count.

“You got to try to get him early,” Judge said. “You never want to get behind on a guy like that, especially with his good slider and his fastball that plays up. If I got something out over the plate early, put a good swing on it.”

It was Judge’s 18th home run of the year, tying him with the Orioles’ Manny Machado for the fifth-most in baseball.

And it was the second time in three games Judge homered in the eighth inning or later to give the Yankees the lead.

It was also Judge’s sixth go-ahead home run of the season.

Boone was asked how Judge, typically so selective at the plate, can also be so aggressive at times.

“Some of that is game plan,” Boone said. “He’ll pick his spots where he’ll go up there and look for a certain pitch sometimes.”

Boone added, “I think (Judge) gets in those deep counts, too, because of the way they attack him. They’re a little bit fearful of him, certainly careful with him, so they nibble a lot with him more so than most players and he has the ability to control the zone so more often than not, he’s not leaving the zone.”

Brendan Kuty may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.