Aaron Judge

Blue Jays broadcasters question Aaron Judge after he strangely looks toward dugout before home run

New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge hit home runs No. 9 and 10 this season during his team’s 7-4 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays Monday.

His second blast of the night didn’t come without some questions, however, with Sportsnet announcers Dan Shulman and Buck Martinez noticing that Judge’s eyes were temporarily diverted from Blue Jays reliever Jay Jackson to the direction of the Yankees’ dugout.

The broadcast duo picked up on Judge’s apparent stare a couple pitches before he connected on the 462-foot dinger. Shulman began by saying he didn’t want to throw allegations around before Martinez chimed in.

“Once again, he’s looking at something, then the next move is that powerful swing, and he blasts one to center field. I’ve not seen that before with him,” Martinez said. “I’ve not ever seen that.”

While Shulman and Martinez insinuated that Judge and the Yankees may have been cheating, it’s entirely possible that Jackson was tipping his pitches, and someone in the dugout identified it. On the other hand, perhaps it wasn’t a bright idea to hang an 84 mph breaking ball over the middle of the plate to the defending American League MVP, who bashed 62 home runs in 2022.

Judge, who missed time earlier this season with a hip strain, is back in a groove after a slow start to his campaign. Judge is hitting .274 with 10 home runs and 24 RBI to go along with a .957 OPS through 117 at-bats. After Monday’s performance, he’s up to 30 multi-homer games for his career. Only Babe Ruth (68), Mickey Mantle (46), Lou Gehrig (43) and Joe DiMaggio (35) have more multi-homer games in a Yankees uniform than Judge, via MLB.com.

Aaron Judge the latest to hear allegations of cheating

The timing of the “allegations” against Judge is interesting, given what transpired last week. Just two days removed from notching a series victory at home over the Yankees, a WFAN Sports Radio host accused the Tampa Bay Rays of cheating.

“There’s something suspicious about that by the way,” Roberts said of the Rays’ historic start, via Awful Announcing. “All I know is I’m a baseball fan, I know baseball, I like baseball, I was very skeptical with what I saw this weekend… Christian Bethancourt – HELLOOOO – Taylor Walls, WHAT?! You know what most of us do? We don’t know who they are so we just say the ‘Rays are brilliant.’ Here’s the problem, I know who they are. They’re not good.

“The Rays are 19-3 at home? HELLOOOO. Are you gonna wake up when the article’s written in The Athletic, or are you gonna wake up now? Sometimes you don’t need evidence. Sometimes you gotta say, ‘What I’m watching doesn’t make sense.’ So I’ll do it, I’m not a Yankee fan. I’m gonna raise my hand. Hey, ladies and gentlemen, what I’m seeing in Tampa, makes no sense.”

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