In his first four plate appearances, Aaron Judge saw a total of two strikes.
In his fifth plate appearance, the Yankees captain swung the bat once.
That one time — a foul ball on a middle-of-the-plate changeup — probably represented the Yankees’ best chance at stealing a Subway Series game.
Jose Quintana and the relievers behind him navigated around Judge four times before pitching right through him in the deciding ninth inning of a 3-2 Mets win in The Bronx on Tuesday, when the Yankees’ lineup once again was exposed as thinner than wire.
“We’ve seen some teams take that approach,” manager Aaron Boone said after Judge reached base in four of five plate appearances in what qualified as a disappointing game. “Look, we’ll get that middle of the order more settled in the coming days, too, and that changes the equation a little bit.”
Everywhere but No. 2 and No. 3 is unsettled.
There is Juan Soto, who reached once on a walk, and Judge, whom opponents have little reason to pitch to because on this night the cleanup hitter was righty-hitting J.D. Davis until the lefty-hitting Ben Rice pinch hit.
With two outs and no one on base in the first, Judge walked on five Quintana pitches.
There was one out and the bases empty in the third when five more pitches put Judge on first base.
Davis followed with an inning-ending double play.
Quintana did not attempt to throw a strike to Judge in the fifth inning, when a four-pitch walk put Judge on before Davis’ strikeout ended the frame.
Two innings later, with Trent Grisham at second base, the Mets did not bother even pretending to pitch to Judge, who was intentionally walked for a seventh time this year.
The Mets were OK putting the potential go-ahead run on base because a pinch-hitting Rice and Volpe were set to take at-bats. Dedniel Nunez retired both.
“[Quintana] was being careful,” said Judge, whose on-base percentage rose to .439 but did not get much of a chance at hitting home run No. 36. “You just got to pass the baton to the next guy.”
The next guy is consistently failing for a Yankees club that has watched the likes of Volpe, Alex Verdugo, Gleyber Torres and DJ LeMahieu, among others, flail on too many occasions.
Few know this better than the Mets, who are managed by former Yankees bench coach Carlos Mendoza and who have a starting pitcher in Luis Severino who recently called out the two-good-hitter offense.
“I know that lineup very well,” Mendoza said after essentially ordering four walks. “They’ve got good hitters. Judge is special. Soto’s special, too. … You got to make decisions at times.”
Mendoza chose differently in the ninth inning, when lefty Jake Diekman walked Soto with one out.
The Mets opted to pitch to Judge rather than placing the potential tying run on second and potential winning run on first.
Judge saw five pitches, fouled off one and froze on a fastball that Diekman dotted on the inside corner for strike three.
The rest of the lineup only allowed No. 99 one chance, which he could not capitalize on.
“Just got to get the middle of our order a little more settled,” Boone said, “and hopefully that will come back to bite teams when they do do it and force them to go after Aaron.”