NEW YORK – Aaron Judge spent most of Saturday’s game wearing a small white bandage under his right eye, the unintended result of a between-innings toss from Anthony Volpe. The Yankees were jogging off the field, a ball sailed through the air and the team’s best player never saw it coming.
Fortunately for the Yankees, Judge avoided serious injury. But the fourth-inning mishap served as a painful metaphor for how things are going amidst their ongoing slide. And fittingly for a Subway Series setting, the latest loss invited echoes of Casey Stengel’s famous lament: “Can’t anybody here play this game?”
Carlos Rodón served up a first-inning grand slam, and the Yankees spent the rest of the afternoon playing catch-up, absorbing a 12–6 loss to the Mets at Citi Field. The defeat extended the Yankees’ losing streak to six games, matching their longest skid of the season, prompting manager Aaron Boone to call this “a terrible week.”
“It’s never fun when you’re going through a stretch of six-game losses,” Rodón said. “The baseball season always seems to take a mental toll on guys, including me and every one of us. But it’s a marathon, so you keep going.”
Brandon Nimmo hit the first-inning slam off Rodón; Pete Alonso tagged him in the fifth for the first of his two homers, part of a five-RBI performance. Saying he had “a lot of misses and fell behind some guys,” Rodón was charged with seven runs (six earned) over five innings.
The Yankees did show pop — Jazz Chisholm Jr., Austin Wells and Volpe all homered, the first two blasts coming off Frankie Montas, while Cody Bellinger had a two-run double.
“The boys were fighting back,” Judge said. “We were clawing back all game.”
As Boone noted, offense hasn’t been the most pressing issue during this slide. Pitching and defense continue to be the primary culprits.
Over their past six games, Yankees starters have posted an 8.36 ERA (26 earned runs in 28 innings) — and the bullpen hasn’t been any better (an 11.65 ERA – 22 earned runs in 17 innings).
“We’ve just got to prevent runs better,” Boone said. “That’s what has hurt us this week. We’re swinging the bat, we’re putting some points on the board. But it’s been a tough week for us slowing down some offenses.”
Not an encouraging development, especially on an afternoon when the team announced right-hander Clarke Schmidt is likely to undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery.
There was suspect glovework, too. Jasson Domínguez couldn’t get to a first-inning double, Chisholm committed a throwing error that led to a second-inning run and Trent Grisham bobbled a ball in center field during the four-run seventh.
“That’s all part of the run prevention,” Boone said. “I feel like we have a good defensive club. We haven’t been our best here, these past couple of weeks. We’ve clearly made too many mistakes while we’re struggling a little bit on the mound. We’ve got to be better in all facets.”
Zooming out, the Yanks have lost 16 of their past 22 games – a span that has seen them fritter away what was once a seven-game lead in the American League East.
Boone said he views that as mostly the result of a pair of six-game slides: the one from June 13-18, when they struggled to score runs, and the reality they are currently living.
“These are the moments that build character as a team, and also help you find out and define what the heck you need moving forward and where you need to change,” Boone said.
That last piece seems important, considering the July 31 Trade Deadline is less than four weeks away.
Especially after losing Schmidt, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman will be in the market for a starting pitcher as well as at least one reliever to aid a gassed bullpen. Cashman has previously outlined his priorities as: “Pitching, pitching, pitching.”
The Yankees remain interested in an infielder – possibly a second baseman, but ideally a third baseman who would allow Chisholm to return to second, his preferred position. (They did sign Jeimer Candelario to a Minor League contract Saturday.)
In the meantime, Judge said the current roster must focus on fundamentals and completing routine plays.
“Every good team goes through a couple of bumps in the road,” Judge said. “We can’t let it alter what our ultimate goal is. We’ve got to keep moving forward and clean some things up.”