The Yankees called up Everson Pereira and Oswald Peraza this week, both as a way to look to the future and in hopes the rookies could spark the team.
You know who could best spark the Yankees? The guy who blasted 62 home runs last year.
Aaron Judge smoked his fourth home run in the team’s past 10 innings, crushing yet another one to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead over the Nationals in the first inning in The Bronx on Thursday.
Judge picked up where he left off, having put together his first-career three-homer game in Wednesday’s skid-snapping win.
An afternoon later, the right fielder saw one pitch from Washington’s Patrick Corbin — a middle-of-the-plate fastball — and jumped on it for a 421-foot dinger to right center field.
With 28 home runs, Judge is fifth in the American League despite playing just 73 games because of a torn ligament in his toe, which he continues to play through.
There likely will come a point when the Yankees, who entered play 9 ½ games back in the AL wild card standings, wonder if shutting down Judge and letting his toe heal is the best option.
Judge’s bat might argue that the team still has a chance, however minute.