Yankees’ Aaron Judge: Why I just missed catching crushing home run

Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge explains how, at 6-foot-8, he came up just short of catching a deciding home run in an 11-inning, 5-3 loss to the Atlanta Braves on Monday, July 2, 2018 (7/2/18) at Yankee Stadium. Ronald Acuna Jr. ended up with a game-winning home run off reliever David Robertson.

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NEW YORK — Bad timing for bad timing.

Right fielder Aaron Judge said he slightly misjudged the ball that struck the tip of his glove and went over the fence in the 11th inning of a crushing 5-3 Yankees loss to the Braves on Monday at Yankee Stadium.

“Just timed it up wrong,” Judge said. “That’s all it is.”

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Ronald Acuna Jr., Atlanta’s star rookie, got just enough wood on a David Robertson pitch with a runner on base to force Judge to put his back against the wall.

The 6-foot-8 Judge leaped. He’s come down with home-run saving catches so many times.

Not this time.

It was the deciding blow in a game that saw the Yankees fail in plenty of other areas. They went 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position, stranding 12 runners.

In other words, it shouldn’t have come down to Judge’s desperate jump.

But it did. Cue the shrug emoji.

“There’s no other word for it,” Robertson said. “It just sucks when that happens. I didn’t make a great pitch. I didn’t make a bad pitch. I was kind of in between. He put a good swing on it. He’s got a lot of pop. Haven’t faced him before. Strong kid.”

Manager Aaron Boone said he thought Judge had a chance at it.

“I knew he got himself into a pretty good position,” Boone said. “I couldn’t tell how close he came to it. I haven’t seen (the replay) yet.”

Judge said he was so close.

“I always think I have a good chance at any of them that are close to the wall. I’ve always got a good shot,” he said.

He added, “I felt it hit my glove and it didn’t go in. They got two runs. Tough play. I want to make that play for D-Rob.”

Robertson initially thought it didn’t have sufficient juice.

“He hit it and I thought it was an out to be honest with you,” the reliever said. “Playing here at Yankee Stadium, you see it happen all the time. The short porch gets you in right field. Wish Judge would have caught it. Would have been awesome. It just didn’t happen (Monday night).”

Brendan Kuty may be reached at bkuty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.