ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Aaron Judge showered, dressed, and waited. The Yankees captain knew what was coming. Five losses in a row will do that.
After the Yankees dropped a 5-4 decision to the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday to complete a three-game sweep at Tropicana Field, the team captain stood at his locker and delivered a direct assessment of what has gone wrong. He did not deflect. He did not spin.
He told his teammates, publicly and bluntly, that the approach needs to change.
Judge’s message to the lineup
Asked directly what has gone wrong offensively, Aaron Judge did not point at pitchers or bad luck. He placed the issue squarely on how the Yankees are approaching at-bats, arguing that hitters are expanding their zones and beating themselves before good pitches even arrive.
“Guys are having some tough at-bats, but I think we just need to simplify some things at the plate,” judge said. “We’re trying to hit every single pitch we see up there and kind of getting ourselves in some bad counts and bad situations.”
“So I just think as a group, we simplify some things and refine our approach a little bit, hunt the pitch that we’re looking for and kind of pass the baton, and I think we’ll be in a better spot,” the Yankees captain added.
Beyond at-bat quality, Judge identified a second failure that cost the Yankees all weekend: an inability to build base traffic. With six starters batting below .200 in Sunday’s lineup, there was almost no margin for error and almost no runners to show for it.
“We didn’t get a lot of traffic when we needed to in this series,” Judge said. “We had one hit for the majority of the game, and a couple of these games. I think if guys take their walks when they need to and focus on a pitch they can drive, we’ll be in a better spot.”
Pressed on what he expects as the team returns home, the Yankees captain rejected the idea of singling out teammates. Instead he framed the turnaround as a personal obligation for every man in the room, including himself.
“It starts with yourself,” Judge said. “You’ve got to look at individually yourself. ‘Hey, what can I change? What can I do to put myself in a better position to help this team win?’ That’s what it comes down to. Don’t try to do too much.”
The numbers behind the skid
The Yankees averaged 2.6 runs per game across the five-game losing streak. They have scored four or fewer runs in eight of their 15 games this season. In Sunday’s loss alone, they had one hit through six innings against Drew Rasmussen, who held them to a Jazz Chisholm Jr. double in his entire outing before departing with a 3-0 lead. Rasmussen struck out seven Yankees without a walk in those six innings.
The Yankees’ offensive chart reads like a team in crisis. Ryan McMahon is hitting .114. Trent Grisham is at .133. Chisholm is at .179. Austin Wells is at .154. Randal Grichuk and J.C. Escarra had not yet recorded a hit for the season entering Sunday. Aaron Boone’s lineup featured six starters batting below the Mendoza Line.
Judge himself is hitting .218. He has four home runs and nine RBIs, including a two-run shot in the ninth inning Sunday that pulled the Yankees within one. But even the the Yankees captain acknowledges the group needs more than what they have been giving.
The Yankees are now 0-6 in one-run games. Six of their seven losses this season have been decided by a single run. Their team OPS of .653 ranked 25th in baseball. This is the same group that led the majors in runs scored with 849 and home runs with 274 last year.
Boone addresses the slump
Manager Aaron Boone surveyed the same offensive landscape after the game and did not dress it up. He acknowledged that the Yankees have been failing in the moments that decide close games, repeatedly getting into position to score without finishing.
“Today, for the most part, we were shut down,” the Yankees manager said. “In other games, we haven’t broken through with runners in scoring position. When you’re not hitting the ball over the fence, you’ve got to make hay when you have some opportunities. There’s been a lot of games where I feel like we’re having some good at-bats; we’re creating traffic. But you’ve got to cash in.”
When reporters zeroed in on McMahon, who has become the most visible symbol of the lineup struggles, Boone pushed back. The Yankees manager argued that the third baseman’s slump was being treated as the whole story when the problems run far deeper across the roster.
“You guys love to bring him up, but we’ve got a number of guys we’ve got to get going,” Boone said.
McMahon himself explained what went wrong in the game-ending at-bat. He had been gearing up for a fastball and was left off-balance when Tampa Bay reliever Mason Englert threw a changeup instead.
“I’ve been a little late on the fastball,” the the Yankees thirdbaseman said. “He threw a changeup on a good line for a heater, and I was a little bit out in front.”
One bright spot, and the AL East reality
Ben Rice has been the exception. He ranks among the American League leaders in batting average, home runs, and RBIs through the first 15 games. Giancarlo Stanton, used primarily as a pinch-hitter this series, has also been productive when he has played.
The rest of the Yankees’ position players have not carried their weight. In five days, a 3.5-game lead in the AL East has become a three-way tie with the Rays and Baltimore Orioles. The Yankees started 7-1 and are now 8-7.
The one area holding the Yankees together is their pitching. Their 2.78 team ERA leads the majors. But with an offense this cold, the margin for error is essentially gone.
Judge is confident the swing corrections will come. When asked whether the losing streak had him genuinely worried about the season, the Yankees captain acknowledged the concern but refused to let it become the dominant note. He and McMahon both finished Sunday’s availability with the same basic message: reset and move on.
“It’s baseball,” Judge said. “We’ve just got to show up the next day and right the ship. You’ve got to have a short memory and move on to the next one. It’s tough, but that game’s over with. Nothing we can do about it.”
A seven-game homestand begins Monday night at Yankee Stadium against the Los Angeles Angels. The Yankees’ offense has some proving to do.
