ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Cody Bellinger arrived at Tropicana Field early on Tuesday, taking extra swings in the cage hours before first pitch.
The work was meant to fix a slump. By the end of the night, it had produced a single, two more strikeouts, and a mistake that summed up the Yankees’ misery.
In a 6-4 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays, Bellinger lined a sharp hit to right field, then got himself thrown out on the bases, wiping out a rally when New York could least afford it.
For a player usually praised as one of the smartest baserunners in the game, it was a jarring lapse at the worst possible time.
The moment mattered because of who made it. With Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton out, the Yankees are leaning on Bellinger to steady a sinking lineup. Instead, their steadiest veteran is stuck in a deep freeze, and the mistakes are starting to pile up alongside the strikeouts.
A rally erased on the bases
The blunder came after Rays starter Ian Seymour left the game. Ryan McMahon singled, and Bellinger followed with a single to right field to put two runners on.
Then it fell apart. Bellinger saw a high throw sail toward third base and hesitated, misjudging whether to advance. But the moment unraveled when he took too wide a turn around first base. By the time he moved, the window had closed. Junior Caminero pounced and threw him out, turning a small spark into another wasted chance. For a Yankees lineup already searching for runs, that kind of mental lapse carries real weight.
He did not hide from the error afterward, owning it in blunt terms.
“That was a bad mistake and really unacceptable,” Bellinger said.
He explained the split-second indecision that cost him the base.
“I wasn’t committed right away, so I took two steps,” Bellinger said, adding that by then it was too late.
A slump that keeps deepening
The baserunning gaffe was only the surface. Underneath it is a slide at the plate that has stripped Bellinger of his usual value.
He has gone 8-for-66 over his past 18 games, a stretch that dates to his last home run. He has not gone deep at all in July after hitting three in June.
The freefall lines up with the team’s. Entering Tuesday, Bellinger was hitting .121 with one RBI across his previous 16 games, a span in which the Yankees went 4-12 and tumbled out of first place in the AL East.
The season numbers still look respectable. Bellinger is slashing .248/.344/.421 with a .765 OPS and 11 home runs through 88 games, production that ranks among the better marks on the Yankees.
The trend, though, is heading the wrong way. Last season he posted a .814 OPS with 29 homers, and the recent version has not resembled that hitter.
The question the Yankees cannot dodge
That gap is what turns a slump into something larger. Bellinger is not just another bat in the order. He is the Yankees’ All-Star representative and one of the faces the club is paying to lead.
He signed a five-year, $162.5 million contract in January, a nine-figure commitment that came with an expectation. In the absence of Judge, that expectation is to carry the team.
The deal made Bellinger one of the offseason’s marquee additions and the cornerstone of the Yankees’ plan to support Judge. Living up to it during a stretch like this is the exact test the contract was built for.
One national writer captured the discomfort directly, tying the team’s collapse to its highest-profile healthy star. The Athletic’s Chad Jennings wrote that the Yankees have been awful lately, and pointed the finger squarely.
Jennings wrote that the recent slide “is Bellinger.”
That is the uncomfortable truth hanging over the roster. The player brought in to be a stabilizing force has instead mirrored the team’s worst stretch in years.
A veteran searching for a turnaround
Bellinger has been through slumps before across a decade in the majors, including an MVP peak and a steep decline in Los Angeles. He knows the work required to climb out.
He struck an even tone after the loss, crediting Seymour’s tough arm and insisting the group can bounce back over the rest of the series.
The early batting practice was part of that push, a veteran trying to grind his way back rather than wait for the swing to return on its own.
For now, the Yankees sit three games behind the Rays in the AL East, still short two stars and still waiting on the one healthy leader they need most. Until Bellinger breaks free, the question of whether he can carry them will only grow louder.
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