Jazz's pregame speech helps awaken Yanks' offense: 'Good timing'

WASHINGTON -- The Yankees’ offense was finally able to break out against the Rays on Thursday, chasing All-Star Drew Rasmussen with six runs in the third inning on their way to a 12-4 victory at Tropicana Field.

The Yankees pounded out 12 hits, going 7-for-14 with runners in scoring position. Of their six extra-base hits, two were homers from Ben Rice and two were Ryan McMahon doubles. The duo combined for seven RBIs on four hits and scored four runs.

The onslaught marked New York’s first double-digit run production since June 17 against the White Sox (a 10-5 win) and was a welcome departure from a rough stretch where the Bombers managed only 36 runs over 13 games.

“Yesterday was great to see after a tough run at it for a little while there,” said hitting coach James Rowson. “I thought the guys battled. It was really about passing the baton, trusting the guy behind you, getting to the next at-bat. I thought we did a good job of that. For the most part we've done a good job of that all year but kind of ran into a little bit of a gauntlet over the last month.”

The confidence in the batter’s box Sunday might have been accelerated thanks to an impassioned speech from Yankees veteran second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. during the pregame hitter’s meeting that impressed left fielder Max Schuemann.

“It was great,” Rowson said. “I [would] almost double down on what Schuemann said. It's always good when guys just remind each other: we are in this as a group. We've been in this for a long time.

“He just sent out that reminder that kind of just when you're going through those tough times you got to stick together. You got to count on each other. That was the overwhelming part of the message. Everybody took it to heart a little bit. So, it was good timing for a message like that.”

It’s not breaking news that the big bat of Aaron Judge (right rib stress fracture) has been absent from the lineup for more than a month and Giancarlo Stanton (right calf strain) hasn’t played since April 25. The Yankees are 15-19 since Judge last got into a game.

But having a breakout game for the offense, against an AL-best Rays team (54-37), gets a lot of attention, especially because it came against Rasmussen. The All-Star right-hander had a 0.89 career ERA against the Yankees prior to Sunday.

“I just think, up and down, the quality of the at-bats,” manager Aaron Boone said. “It was everyone. Whether it was Schuemann starting a rally, whether it was the long at-bat [12-pitch] double by McMahon, whether it’s the long ball by Rice or other guys. The speed came into play on some plays, all against a really tough pitcher and someone that's given us problems, obviously, over the years. It's one game. It's encouraging to see that because I know we are capable of that.”

Rowson echoed Boone’s sentiment. He loved seeing so many productive swings going extra bases and guys coming through in high leverage with runners in scoring position.

“These guys are competitors,” Rowson said. “They go out there to compete. Nobody wants to not do well, so it's nice to get a game like that under your belt. It definitely does give you a chance to take a little bit of a deep breath and get moving into this. We hope that we can take that and get that going into the next series. You hope that it gets contagious and the guys can keep going.”

Rowson said working with hitters as accomplished as those in the everyday Yankees lineup, it’s not about breaking down and building back up their mechanics. He said his hitters are doing that every day anyway when they study video and take swings in the batting cage. His reminder to them is to look up at the name plate of their locker.

“In the tough stretch you got to get guys to remember how good they are,” Rowson said. “This game is really hard and when you go through a couple tough stretches and you're not hitting as well it will affect anyone's confidence at some point. They are here for a reason. They are the best in the world and we've got some really good players.

“Nothing's changed in their work ethic or how they've gone about it, whether we were hot or whether we went through that [rough] stretch. The only thing that really changed were the results and obviously when the results change you kind of look at it a little bit harder and a little bit deeper. But you really just got to dial in on your process.”