Aaron Judge Opens up About Facing Crochet After Yankees-Red Sox Game

Yankees’ superstar Aaron Judge is the MLB’s undisputed top hitter. However, he was having some trouble when facing Boston’s new ace, Garrett Crochet. The Red Sox stud was carrying a shutout into the ninth inning against the Yankees on Friday when the game’s premier slugger stepped up to the plate.

Up until that point, Judge was 0-for-6 against Crochet on the season with an incredible six strikeouts. Yes, every Crochet-Judge matchup in 2025 had resulted in a strikeout until the ninth inning on Friday. That’s when Judge had enough. The New York legend teed off, breaking up the shutout and tying the game at one a piece. However, Judge’s lone contribution on the night wasn’t enough to give the Yankees the win. After the game, Judge had this to say of Crochet:

“He’s an incredible pitcher,” Judge said as reported by Dan Martin of the New York Post. “That’s why they traded for him. He works both sides of the plate [and] has overpowering stuff. I was trying to get on base to start a rally, and I was happy to tie it.”

“What I was trying to do wasn’t working.”

Of course, the last thing he tried worked perfectly. This year marked the first time Judge and Crochet faced off since 2021, when Judge went 1-2 against him with a strikeout, back when the budding strikeout artist was a member of the White Sox.

Crochet has been a remarkable addition for the Red Sox, tossing to a 2.24 ERA on the year with an MLB-best 117 strikeouts. In Friday’s bout with the Yankees, Crochet surrendered just the one run on four hits and a walk through 8.1 innings.