Juan Soto and Aaron Judge were two of the American League’s three starting outfielders in Tuesday night’s All-Star Game, and they represented the Yankees well -- especially against rookie phenom Paul Skenes.
The Pirates' young hurler started the game and got through the first two batters before Soto came to the plate. The left-handed outfielder made the 22-year-old work and eventually walked.
“I was trying to take him deep, though, no lie,” Soto said with a laugh after both Yankees outfielder’s nights were done. “But after two strikes I was trying to work that at-bat so I wanted to make sure he had a chance to face him too. I got my job done.”
Judge -- the No. 4 batter -- needed a little help to give the fans the matchup of the night since Skenes was scheduled to pitch just one inning. After Soto’s walk, they got what they wanted, although it was brief.
The 2022 AL MVP swung at a first-pitch 99.7 mph fastball over the heart of the plate and grounded out to end the inning and Skenes’ night.
“You gotta be [aggressive] with a guy like that, can throw up to 100-plus go feel through all his pitches,” Judge said. “Like Juan said, he was going to get on for me and he did and it was my job to try and barrel something up. It was a fun first inning. Get a chance to hit behind [Soto], battle against one of the young studs in the NL right now is pretty cool.”
When asked if it was a “win” that neither one of them struck out, the Yankees outfielders smiled before Judge answered.
“A win is putting some runs on the board. That was a draw I think.”
Judge would go hitless in his two at-bats, while Soto hit a big two-run double off of Giants starter Logan Webb with the American League down 3-0 in the third inning. He would score the tying run later in the inning and finish 1-1 with a walk.
Although the first inning didn’t go as planned for the Yankees duo, they may have another chance later this year when the Pirates visit the Bronx for a three-game set starting Sept. 27. Whether Skenes will be scheduled to pitch in that series -- or if the Pirates will shut him down -- is unknown.
Until then, the baseball world has Tuesday night’s draw between Skenes and the Yanks to look back on.