Aaron Judge went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts as Team USA fell to Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic semifinal Tuesday night in Miami.
It’s the kind of performance that’ll fuel the “Judge doesn’t come through in big spots” narrative for months.
The Yankees captain looked overmatched all night. He was called out on strikes to end the first inning, struck out swinging in the fourth, grounded out weakly to third in the sixth with a runner on first, and caught looking at strike three in the eighth – right after Bryce Harper had tied the game with a clutch two-run homer.
Judge finished the tournament batting .222 with two home runs. He worked deep counts and was robbed of a semifinal homer by Julio Rodriguez‘s spectacular catch, but those details won’t matter much now.
Look, Judge has delivered plenty of big hits throughout his career. And it’s not like he stranded runners all over the bases Tuesday night.
But this one stings differently.
In a game that tight, one swing from the AL MVP could’ve changed everything. Instead, he went down looking twice and whiffing on his third strikeout under the bright Miami lights.
The pain from this performance might linger well into the regular season. Judge will want to forget Tuesday night, but his critics certainly won’t.
