NEW YORK (AP) — Game 5 of the World Series has been quite a roller coaster for Aaron Judge. The star slugger busted out of a postseason slump with his first Series home run Wednesday night, connecting for a two-run shot in the first inning that put the New York Yankees ahead against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He also made a spectacular catch while banging into the fence — and then dropped an easy fly for an error that helped the Dodgers rally for five runs to tie the score at 5 in the fifth.
Judge was batting just .152 in October and .133 during his first Fall Classic before sending a 403-foot shot to right-center on the first pitch he saw from starter Jack Flaherty.
Three innings later, Judge made an outstanding grab to rob Freddie Freeman of extra bases. Freeman sent a drive to deep left-center that Judge ran down as he crashed hard into the fence with his right hand and shoulder near the 399-foot sign. From his knees, the 6-foot-7 center fielder flipped the ball to teammate Alex Verdugo to throw back into the infield.
Judge then smiled and winked at Verdugo as the Yankee Stadium crowd chanted “MVP! MVP!” In the fifth, however, Judge took his eye off Tommy Edman's soft liner at the last moment and dropped it for an error that put two runners on with nobody out. After two more defensive miscues by New York, the Dodgers tied the score when Freeman hit a two-run single and Teoscar Hernández followed with a two-run double off Gerrit Cole with two outs. New York trailed .