Aaron Judge gives hilarious response to Shohei Ohtani’s HR in 1st inning

New York Yankees superstar Aaron Judge continued his stellar start to the season with a solo home run in the top of the first inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday.

The reigning AL MVP's hit was matched by reigning NL MVP Shohei Ohtani, who went deep against Max Fried in the bottom of the first inning as the two best MLB sluggers made a thunderous start in the blockbuster matchup.

Following the game when Judge was asked about trading blows with Ohtani to open the game, the Yankees captain made a hilarious comment, saying (0:40 onwards):

"I thought he was copying me. Nah, it's just he's impressive. He's one of the best players in the game for a reason. You know what he can do in the box, on the base path, and once he gets back on the mound, It's special. You know, it's really just about two great ball clubs going after it, and we weren't able to come away with the win there, but I'll be ready to go tomorrow.

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Apart from the home run in the first, Shohei Ohtani had another moonshot against Max Friend in the sixth before the Yankees ace was taken off the mound.

While Judge gave his team the lead with his 19th home run of the season, he was also great in the outfield, snagging a spectacular catch to help out Fried earlier in the game.

Aaron Judge reflected on Shohei Ohtani's second home run over rightfield

Incidentally, Shohei Ohtani's second home run of the game, the 22nd of the season, was over the rightfield wall where Aaron Judge was trying to track the ball. However, the Yankees captain was rendered just a spectator.

"I thought I had a chance off the bat: I was like, ‘OK, this is going to be one at the wall, or [maybe] rob it,’” Judge said. “But it just kept carrying out. That’s why he’s one of the best home run hitters out there.”

Aaron Judge was supported by Paul Goldschmidt, Trent Grisham and Austin Wells as the trio homered to provide a 5-2 lead to the visitors. However, a rough outing for Max Fried sparked a comeback from the hosts, led by Shohei Ohtani as the Dodgers came back to win 8-5 on Friday.

About the author

Chaitanya Prakash is an editor who covers US Sports at Sportskeeda. His first brush with sportswriting was in 2012 when the greatest football manager of all time, Sir Alex Ferguson, bid farewell to the beautiful game.

Although having started out professionally as a cricket writer in 2022, Chaitanya's curiosity and indiscriminate interest in all sports in general eventually introduced him to America's favorite pastime.

While Chaitanya's favorite player from the current crop is the dynamic Venezuelan Ronald Acuna Jr., his all-time favorite, however, is Pedro Martinez, for his self-belief and consistency. He also rates Jose Bautista's iconic bat flip in 2015 as his favorite moment in baseball history.

Chaitanya specializes in reporting on technical aspects of the game or analyzing patterns behind specific plays. He also likes pondering over players' self-assessments following the conclusion of a game as it helps him get an idea of how they think about the sport in general.

When not cheering for his favorites across sports, Chaitanya likes being transported to the past through a good war documentary or a historical documentary in general.

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Edited by Chaitanya Prakash