NEW YORK — The Yankee Stadium crowd went wild when superstar Aaron Judge crushed a 436-foot, 108.6 mph two-run home run off Hunter Dobbins before the Red Sox rookie recorded an out.
“Homer of course (to) Judge in the first inning, it’s easy to get down,” Red Sox catcher Carlos Narváez said. “But that guy, he’s a beast. He’s a beast.”
Dobbins kept his cool in a hostile environment to earn his third victory. The 25-year-old pitched 5 innings and allowed three runs, four hits and no walks. The Red Sox won 11-7 over New York here at Yankee Stadium on Sunday to take the series, 2-1.
“Those five innings were huge for us,” Narváez said.
Judge drilled a 97.5 mph fastball from Dobbins into the right-center field stands.
“Judge is one of the best hitters of our generation,” Dobbins said. “I left a pitch up. Made a good swing. I knew that was just one pitch. So you just kind of get back up there. You keep rolling. But as a starting pitcher, they need you to keep going. So you just kinda reset and go.”
Narváez added, “Nasty stuff. He commanded the spin really good. We used the fastball I think really good, too.”
Dobbins had this start circled on his calendar long before he knew it was going to happen because his dad, Lance Dobbins — who pitched in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization and played Indy Ball — is a big Red Sox fan.
‘A lot of fun,” Dobbins said. “Great environment. Dad, diehard Red Sox fan growing up. You look forward to it and you get drafted by the Red Sox. You always look forward to pitching in the rivalry. So being able to get out there, get a win, offense having my back, it was a lot of fun.”
Dobbins told the Boston Herald before the start that he would rather retire than pitch for New York. The Yankees appeared to use it as some bulletin board material as Jazz Chisholm Jr. tweeted, “I think there should be more trash talk in baseball!!! Anyone agrees!? Anyway free smoke at 7.”
“You can’t really say something like that and not expect a passionate fan base like the Yankees to say something,” Dobbins said. “If anything, it made the rivalry atmosphere feel a lot more fun. I enjoyed it a lot. Like I said, Yankees fans are passionate. Looking forward to more of it in the future. Kind of get this rivalry going.”
