Associated press

NEW YORK (AP) — Game 5 of the World Series has been quite a rollercoaster for Aaron Judge.

The star slugger emerged from a postseason slump with his first Series home run on Wednesday night, connecting for a two-run shot in the first inning that gave the New York Yankees the lead against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

He also made a spectacular catch while crashing into the fence — then dropped an easy catch on an error that helped the Dodgers put up five runs to tie the score at five in the fifth.

Judge hit just .152 in October and .133 in his first Fall Classic before sending a 400-foot shot to right-center on the first pitch he saw from starter Jack Flaherty.

Three innings later, Judge made an excellent grab to rob Freddie Freeman of extra bases.

Freeman sent a drive to deep left-center that Judge ran toward, slamming his right hand and shoulder hard into the fence near the 400-foot sign. From his knees, the 6-foot-2 midfielder turned the ball to teammate Alex Verdugo to throw back into the infield.

Judge then smiled and winked at Verdugo as the Yankee Stadium crowd chanted “MVP! MVP!”

In the fifth inning, however, Judge turned his attention away from Tommy Edman’s soft liner at the last minute, dropping it for an error that put two runners on base with no one out. After two more defensive miscues by New York, the Dodgers tied the score when Freeman hit a two-run single and Teoscar Hernández followed with a two-run double off Gerrit Cole with two outs.

New York trailed 3-1 in the best-of-seven Series, after winning 11-4 on Tuesday night to avoid a four-game sweep.

Juan Soto was on board after a one-out walk when Judge homered. It was the 16th postseason home run and third this year for Judge, who is expected to win his second AL MVP award in three years next month.

He hadn’t gone deep in 29 at-bats since a draw in Cleveland late in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series on Oct. 17. Judge also homered in Game 2 of that series.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. followed with another home run off Flaherty, giving the Yankees back-to-back home runs in a World Series for the fifth time and the first since Thurman Munson and Reggie Jackson connected in Game 5 at Dodger Stadium in 1977.

It was the 14th series of back-to-back home runs in Yankees postseason history. Judge and Giancarlo Stanton launched consecutive shots in the eighth inning during Game 3 of the ALCS.

Judge started showing minor signs of breaking out in Game 4, when he went 1 for 3 and reached base three times on a walk, a hit by pitch and a single.

He singled in a run in the eighth inning to make it 11-4, his first RBI of the Series and seemingly just the icing on the cake. But maybe something clicked with that swing for Judge, who pumped his fist after rounding first base.

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