LOS ANGELES — The right field fence at Dodger Stadium can now relate to plenty of pitchers around the league.
It, too, got crushed by Aaron Judge.
The Yankees right fielder made another incredible catch Saturday in the eighth inning of a 6-3 win over the Dodgers, running full speed into the fence — which burst open upon the 6-foot-7, 282-pound Judge colliding with it.
Judge hung on to the ball through it all to keep the Yankees’ two-run lead intact and fend off any threat of a potential Dodgers rally.
“I think the fence got most of it,” Judge said with a grin, insisting he was no worse for wear. “Thankfully, it was that part of the wall where it had some give. So I think that saved me quite a bit. If it was a solid wall, we might be [telling] a different story.”
Judge has made his fair share of highlight-reel catches by reaching over outfield walls, but this time he just about ran through it.
J.D. Martinez, who was on the wrong end of Judge’s thievery, roped a ball to right field with a man on first and no outs in the eighth inning of what was then a 5-3 game.
After Judge made the catch and instantly collided with the wall, the fence swung open behind him. He nearly fell into the bullpen, but just took a step in to steady himself, with the ball secure in his glove.
Trainers and manager Aaron Boone (who said he was thinking “Oh no,” upon seeing the play live) went out to check on Judge, even as he tried to wave them off.
“When I got halfway out there, he was kind of pushing us back, like, ‘I’m fine, I’m fine,’ ” Boone said. “Then I ran out and said, ‘I just wanted to tell you what a great catch it was.’ ”
Judge’s foot might have gotten the worst of it as it hit the cement at the footing of the wall.
But he was more irked that the umpires allowed Max Muncy, who had been on first base, to move up to second because, technically, Judge stepped out of the field of play — all because the fence could not hold him.
“That was my [argument],” Boone said. “I’m like, ‘We’re the visitors, it’s not our fault that [Judge] knocked the wall down.’ ”
Reliever Michael King stranded Muncy on second base, making the matter moot.
But Judge, who earlier in the afternoon also hit his 13th homer in his last 19 games, was the talk of the postgame clubhouse.
“He’s from another planet,” Oswaldo Cabrera said.
Gerrit Cole was watching the play from the cold tub after throwing six strong innings.
“For him to just blow through [the fence], I think it kind of took a little bit of the kinetic energy out of just slamming up against the wall,” Cole said. “But it’s still very concerning when such a great player has to go so hard into the wall. He’s got a lot of guts.”
Meanwhile, it served as another reminder for Boone to appreciate what his captain provides on a daily basis.
“He’s just in the midst of [being] one of the great players you’ll see,” Boone said. “The unique way that he does it and does it in so many ways, and he’s the best person, so you just appreciate that he’s our leader. You get caught up in the game, but every now and then you try to appreciate what he does.”