Aaron Judge hasn’t hit a home run in nine games for the first time this season, and the New York Yankees are under .500 for the equivalent of half a season.
Even though Judge leads the majors with 51 home runs and the Yankees are just a half-game behind Baltimore for the AL East lead and the best record in the AL, there’s no sympathy coming their way.
“Nobody’s going to feel sorry for us,” manager Aaron Boone said. “I’m sure a lot of people out there are rooting against us. We’ve got to have that us-against-the-world, go take this thing, go take this position, go take this playoff opportunity. It’s all there for us. We’ve got to do it.”
In a 10-6 loss to the Texas Rangers on Wednesday night, which gave the Yankees their third straight series loss, New York came close to narrowing a ninth-inning deficit from eight runs to just one.
Wyatt Langford made a leaping catch at the top of the wall in left field on a 104 mph liner from Giancarlo Stanton with two runners on, following Trent Grisham’s two-out grand slam. This happened one night after Langford’s game-ending grand slam in a 7-4 Rangers win.
Judge and Juan Soto had left the game in the eighth inning due to the 10-2 score, so Judge was already guaranteed his ninth game in a row without a home run—he had two stretches of eight games without a homer earlier this season.
“Just don’t think about it, try not to hear those kinds of things,” said Judge, who was 6 of 34 with two doubles over the three series losses. “I think I heard it early in the year, too, but there’s nothing I can do about that. I’m not trying to hit homers.”
The Yankees are currently missing a specific closer after two-time All-Star Clay Holmes allowed Langford’s drive with New York close to a series win in the middle game against the Rangers—Holmes’ league-high 11th blown save.
Boone said there are several options, including Holmes, for the next save opportunity in what he called a short-term situation. The answers won’t be clear until Friday at the earliest when they play the Chicago Cubs.
Marcus Stroman had been on a winning streak with a 3-0 record over his previous four starts, but he struggled in the series finale against the Rangers, giving up nine hits in 3 2/3 innings.
The Rangers were missing their top two hitters, Marcus Semien and Corey Seager, the reigning World Series MVP.
“I think we’re all very process-oriented in this clubhouse so we know what we’re capable of,” Stroman said.
“A few bad losses doesn’t move the room in a bad way at all, so just a matter of doing what we’re capable of and going out there and getting momentum and hopefully taking it to Chicago.”
New York’s record of 40-41 since June 1 is a drop from their earlier 40-19 start. Even then, they were only two games ahead of the Orioles.
Cleveland, leading the AL Central with an 80-60 record, is also competing for the AL’s best record, tied with New York and a half-game behind Baltimore (81-60).
“We are right there with every opportunity to reach our hopes and dreams. And that’s because of the season we’ve had as a whole,” Boone said. “We’ve put ourselves in position to go grab this thing.
But if we want to go grab it, we’ve got to play our best ball and put our best foot forward with 22 to go.”
There were several mistakes for the Yankees in the series finale against the Rangers, the defending World Series champions who are likely out of playoff contention this year.
Second baseman Gleyber Torres didn’t anticipate that speedy Langford might try to turn an RBI single into a double and handled the cutoff throw carelessly while Langford advanced to second base. Langford later scored on a single.
Reliever Tim Mayza allowed three consecutive baserunners in the sixth inning, and Mark Leiter Jr. gave up a double and a wild pitch, leading to a three-run inning and an 8-2 lead for Texas.
New York needs two more wins to secure a 32nd consecutive winning season. Judge remains calm despite the recent lackluster performance.
