How's this for bizarre: in a game that ended in a tie and featured 10 batters in a lineup, neither of those facts was the weirdest of the game.
Both of those did happen – the Yankees and Phillies finished nine full innings tied at 2-2, and the Yankees allowed the Phillies to bat 10 (and the favor was returned for one inning) to get some extra reps – but the weirdest facet of the game was Aaron Judge's solo homer in the fifth that made it 2-1…after the inning was over.
After starter Vince Velazquez apparently completed the fifth inning, Phillies manager Joe Girardi motioned to ask if he could stay on the mound to face one more batter to reach his pitch count. Velazquez was just under 75 pitches, so it was likely that was the threshold Girardi wanted him to reach, and wanted him to do so by ostensibly "starting the sixth" instead of sitting down and waiting for the Phillies to bat, or throwing a handful of pitches in the bullpen.
Perhaps Girardi would like to re-visit that decision, as Judge crushed a "walk-off" solo homer into the right-field seats – walk-off because Velazquez, and the Phillies, walked off the field after it happened.
Enjoy this home run that may or may not have been hit by @TheJudge44 -- #AllRise? pic.twitter.com/klb8N0Uhym
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 21, 2020Everyone was so caught by surprise that the YES Network was in commercial, and Judge himself stopped while rounding the bases as he wasn't sure if it actually counted; indeed, it did, making the score 2-1 and giving Judge his third round-tripper in two days.
The box score for this one isn't going to be a framer, or maybe it will – as the former Yankees skipper turned Phillies manager is wont to say, though, if you were keeping score at home, this game? It's not what you want.
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