Judge Aaron of the Yankees: "We would not be in the first place now if we did not have …"

NEW YORK – If you watched a lot of the first 91 games of the Yankees, you could probably find a dozen reasons why they lead the East American League six games despite the fact that 20 players are on the list of injured.

Defender Aaron Judge was named after Sunday's 4-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.

One member of the team, Judge, chose one of his teammates. It is not the one who leads the AL in strikes and one speaks about him like candidate of the most useful player.

The judge is definitely a fan of DJ LeMahieu.

He is also a big fan of third baseman Gio Urshela, who was one of the biggest surprises in baseball after starting the season as a Triple-A player not in the lineup, a member of three organizations since 2017.

"We would not be in the first place now if we did not have Gio," said the judge.

Urshela was a triple threat in the last victory of the Yankees. He made a good run in the third inning to allow the Yankees to leave the field after the Blue Jays scored two goals in the fifth inning to tie the game and he had a great slip. the bottom of the fifth to avoid being scored and score an equal break on wild ground.

We talked about the Urshela slide in both pavilions after the match.

"It was crazy," said Blue Jays pitcher Marcus Stroman.

"I was trying to sneak around the glove," said Urshela.

While the match was tied 2-2 and fifth at Yanks, Urshela broke the board when Stroman threw a wild throw that bounced off the bottom and straight to receiver Danny Jansen, who scored late.

The marble umpire, Ryan Blakney, called Urshela on the outside, but the call was canceled after a replay and the Yanks had a 3-2 lead that was maintained.

"It's really great, it's a special slip," said Aaron Boone, director of the Yankees. "It was a very sporty piece from him."

Urshela's third place finish, which ended fifth place in the Blue Jays, just the last of his many jewels on the defensive, was also quite sporty.

And again, Urshela continued his outstanding season with an afternoon of 2 against 4 and 2 RBIs that left him .302 in 74 games, including 61 as third. His big shot in the second continued to hit hard, pushing his average RISP to .362 with 21 hits in 58.

In 2019, Urshela, 27, had a reputation for being a versatile companion and unsuccessful. Playing 165 games with Cleveland and Toronto from 2015 to 2017, the Colombian has been a career hitter of 225 out of 466 shots.

"When he was going through minor leagues, he's always been a good contact, which can be a very good sign and sometimes take a long time to flourish," Boone said. "I'm sure a lot of people have followed his career in the minor leagues and are not surprised that he's starting to hit the ball at the major league level."

His shot started making big strides at the end of last season when he made adjustments in Triple-A after the Yanks bought it from Toronto on Aug. 4. He hit .307 in 27 games with Triple-A Scranton / Wilkes-Barre.

This year, Urshela impressed the Yankees during the spring training, then returned to Triple-A and got a 4-on-9 record in two games before an injury at the stop Short Troy Tulowitzki does not relegate him to his place. Third baseman Miguel Andujar, who also suffered an injury at the end of the season, quickly took a lot of time. Urshela has made the most of it. The judge credits him with the success of the Yankees.

"The adjustments (Urshela) have been made, it's finally a good thing to show and pay and there is no other place where I would have it," said the judge. "He has something special about defense and attack. Just bring him with the guys at the base, he does the work. As I said, we would not be in first place without him. "

Randy Miller can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.