The New York Yankees have been one of the top teams in the American League after a strong start to the season. But they’ve hit a rough patch over the past week, even as they continue to lead the AL East.
Aaron Judge Issues Rallying Cry After Losing Series at Home to the Rays
Yankees captain Aaron Judge says the team needs to step it up after losing a three-game home series to the Tampa Bay Rays. The Yankees won the opener Friday but dropped the next two.
It marked their second straight series loss, following a road setback to the Baltimore Orioles last week. Judge made it clear that he doesn’t want the current skid to become a full-on slump.
“Time to bounce back,” he told reporters after the Yankees fell to their fourth loss in the past six games with the 7-5 defeat to the Rays on Sunday afternoon.
“It’s tough, especially on a day like today, where we matched with a chance to win the series. On the offensive side, not getting things going. We had chances but fell short there. Our guys battled until the end and gave us an opportunity at the end.”
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Judge credited the Rays’ pitching, which kept the Yankees’ big bats quiet. New York managed just eight runs over the series, its lowest total this season.
“They’ve got a really good pitching staff. From their bullpen to their starting pitchers. We just saw them a week or two ago, so it was good to see them recently. They made some good adjustments to subdue us here the whole series.”
Judge is currently batting .423/.510/.777 for the season and leads the MLB in nearly every category. He has 55 base hits, including 11 home runs, 33 RBIs, and an OPS+ of 263 with 3.1 bWAR.
The Yankees manager, Aaron Boone, echoed Judge’s sentiments in his press conference. He praised the opposition while lamenting his own team’s subpar offensive display.
“That’s what they do. You look at the arms they run out against you, starting and relief,” Boone said. “You’ve got to be able to win some low-scoring games. They held us down pretty well this series.”
“I liked the way we battled today to work our way back in it, but we ended up being really short today. But, obviously, a tough series where they could hold us down to take a couple.”
The Bronx Bombers have only managed one series win from the previous four. It was also the third series they have lost at Yankee Stadium after dropping a couple against the Arizona Diamondbacks and the San Francisco Giants last month.
Meanwhile, the Yankees still hold the top spot in the American League East with a 19-11 record. They are off on an 11-day road trip, starting with the three-game series against the San Diego Padres.