With his Yankees fresh off their fifth straight loss and struggling in just about every facet of the game, Aaron Boone referred to Ben Rice and Cody Bellinger as \u201ccritical guys\u201d in a lineup that has totaled just 12 hits in the club\u2019s last four games, the fewest over such a stretch in franchise history.<\/p>\n
\u201cEspecially with some key guys out, those are kind of our pillar guys,\u201d Boone told reporters after the Yankees suffered a 7-3 loss to the Tigers on Monday<\/a>.<\/p>\n But Rice and Bellinger have not provided much support lately with a few other beams, Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, on the injured list. And with the Yankees unsure when those sluggers will return, they need Rice and Bellinger to get back to being the stabilizing forces that they have been for most of the season, and quickly.<\/p>\n \u201cWe gotta be better,\u201d Bellinger said when asked about the offense. \u201cThere\u2019s really no excuses. I need to be better.\u201d<\/p>\n Bellinger, in the first year of a five-year, $162.5 million, option-heavy contract, said that after his second straight 0-for-4 performance. The former MVP is now hitting .122 with a .396 OPS, one extra-base hit \u2014 a double \u2014 and zero RBI over his last 12 games.<\/p>\n That was prior to Tuesday\u2019s battle against Tigers ace Tarik Skubal, the back-to-back American League Cy Young<\/a>. Overall, Bellinger is hitting .258 with a .797 OPS, a 124 wRC+, 11 homers and 49 RBI in his second season with the Yankees.<\/p>\n Rice, meanwhile, has emerged as one of the best young hitters in baseball this season, batting .269 with a .916 OPS, a 151 wRC+, 22 homers and 53 RBI. However, he is taking an 0-for-18 slump into Tuesday\u2019s left-on-left matchup with Skubal, and he is hitting .103 with a .304 OPS, one homer and one RBI over his last 10 games \u2014 a span that has included a lot of at-bats against southpaws \u2014 after going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts on Monday.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s an outstanding hitter,\u201d Boone said. \u201cHe\u2019ll pull through this.\u201d<\/p>\n Boone has attributed Rice and Bellinger\u2019s scuffles to timing and some poor batted ball luck, rather than a side effect of Judge\u2019s absence. That\u2019s fair, as Judge, out with a fractured rib<\/a>, last played on May 31. Stanton has been out since April 24 with a calf injury.<\/p>\n Rice and Bellinger\u2019s woes have been more recent, and have followed a few other injuries that depleted the depth of the Yankees\u2019 lineup. That includes Trent Grisham, one of the team\u2019s hottest hitters before a hamstring injury sidelined him on June 12, and Ryan McMahon, who is no world beater at the plate but had been putting up respectable numbers before a peritonsillar abscess took him out of commission.<\/p>\n Fortunately for the Yankees, both are expected back later this week, which should also boost a defense that has looked sloppy of late. Grisham could return Wednesday or Friday, while McMahon is expected back on Friday.<\/p>\n