BOSTON — Three weeks ago, Aaron Boone wanted the question to go away. He was tired of being asked how the Yankees would score without Aaron Judge. His team had just rattled off a win, and the worry felt premature.
That question is no longer premature. It is sitting in the home dugout at Fenway Park, waiting for an answer the Yankees do not have.
New York scratched out three hits for a third straight game Saturday, falling 4-1 to the last-place Red Sox. For a second game in a row, the Yankees were held to just three hits. They have managed five runs across the first three games of the series and now stare down the threat of a four-game sweep when they return to Fenway on Sunday night.
The bigger story is not one bad afternoon. It is the pattern forming around it.
The Yankees have lost six of their last eight and slid to 48-34. The lead they held over Tampa Bay has evaporated. They are now in a virtual tie atop the American League East, trailing the Rays by a game in the loss column. A lineup that spent early June proving it could survive without its captain suddenly looks like it cannot function without him, and the schedule offers no guarantee of quick relief.
A lineup that has gone quiet
The numbers are stark. Over the first three games of this series, the Yankees hit .149 as a team, going 14-for-94 with eight walks. They were 6-for-59 in the Friday and Saturday losses alone. In those two games they failed to collect a hit in scoring position, going hitless in seven such chances.
Boston’s young left-handers did the damage. Connelly Early gave up two runs in six innings Thursday. Payton Tolle carried a perfect game into the sixth on Friday. Rookie Jake Bennett then held the Yankees hitless into the fifth Saturday, allowing only Max Schuemann’s solo homer over 6.1 innings before exiting to a standing ovation.
The Yankees opened the year 18-6 against left-handed starters. They have since dropped six of their last seven such matchups, including all three games in Boston.
Schuemann, whose fifth-inning blast was his first with the team, credited the way Boston’s arms attacked the zone.
“I think [Bennett] took the momentum from the last couple lefties that they threw,” Schuemann said. “They’ve all done a good job. … Just pounding the strike zone and having the confidence to pound the strike zone. We try to put good swings together, good at-bats together, it just hasn’t gone our way.”
Boone searches for an answer
The lone Yankees rally came in the seventh. Amed Rosario and Cody Bellinger opened with back-to-back singles, putting the tying run on deck. Bennett struck out Jasson Dominguez. Reliever Justin Slaten then struck out Jose Caballero looking and fanned pinch-hitter Jazz Chisholm Jr. to end it. Caballero challenged the called strike three through the automated ball-strike system and lost.
Boone tried to find a shade of progress in the loss, pointing to the quality of contact even as the result stayed the same.
“Obviously haven’t been able to mount much,” the Yankees manager said. “I felt like today we swung the bats a little bit better than yesterday. Yesterday we didn’t mount much at all, there wasn’t a lot of hard contact. Today I felt like we had some hard contact going.”
Pressed on the urgency of the moment, the Yankees manager did not soften it.
“We’ve got to find a way right now,” Boone said.
Gerrit Cole, who took the loss after allowing four runs in 5.1 innings, rejected the idea that the absence of Judge and Giancarlo Stanton was finally dragging the offense down.
“I don’t think so,” the Yankees ace said. “I think it’s just been a little bit of a struggle for us the last few games.”
The MVP-caliber bats have cooled
Part of what makes the slump alarming is who is in it. Two of the Yankees’ best hitters this season have gone cold at the same time.
Ben Rice, who was running stride for stride with Judge for the league home run lead before the captain’s injury, went 0-for-4 Saturday. He is 2-for-23 over his last six games. Bellinger, 1-for-2 with two walks, is 5-for-33 with no home runs across his last 10. Rosario, a reliable left-handed bat early in the year, has fallen to 7-for-42 over his last 15 games.
Bellinger praised Bennett and held to the belief that the bats will come around.
“He’s good. He’s got long levers, and he kept us off the barrel today. He did a really good job,” the Yankees outfielder said. “Hitting is contagious, and sometimes it’s tough to get some rallies going. We hit some balls hard right at people, and ultimately, they’ve been shutting us down.”
Boone framed the cold streak as the natural rhythm of a long season, even for his best hitters.
“Even guys that are going to the All-Star Game and are in MVP conversations, there’s going to be weeks where it’s not easy,” the Yankees skipper said.
Context offers cover, but not for long
There are reasons not to panic. Fenway Park has long given the Yankees trouble. The series began after New York took two of three in Detroit, a set that included a 4-2 win over reigning AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal in which Paul Goldschmidt homered twice and Dominguez once. Three rough days against unfamiliar arms in a tough ballpark is a small sample.
But the timing magnifies it. Judge remains shut down with a broken rib and has no timeline to return. Stanton is not close. Trent Grisham, also on the injured list, is expected back within the week, which would help. The bulk of the lineup New York Yankees must rely on for the next month-plus is the same one that just went quiet.
The Yankees sit 12-11 since Judge went down. That is survivable. It is not the pace of a team built to hold off a surging Rays club that has refused to lose.
The shape of the Yankees’ season tells the story of a team that has run in streaks, and the latest one is pointing the wrong way. After a fast start, two scorching stretches carried the record. The valleys in between, and now the recent skid, are where the concern lives.
| Stretch | Record |
| First 10 games | 8-2 |
| Next 9 games | 2-7 |
| Next 19 games | 16-3 |
| Next 14 games | 4-10 |
| Next 20 games | 15-5 |
| Last 10 games | 3-7 |
The New York Yankees will try to avoid the sweep Sunday night, sending Carlos Rodon against former Yankee Sonny Gray. A win steadies things. Another quiet night turns a rough weekend into a genuine trend, and revives the exact question Boone hoped he was done answering.
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