Aaron Judge said he was not doing much at the plate after going 0-for-4 with a strikeout in the Yankees' 2-0 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday night at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees managed only three hits, struck out 14 times, and went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position while leaving five runners on base.
Judge's night fit the recent pattern. He has gone 10 games without a home run and 10 games without driving in a run, and he entered Thursday hitting.206 with seven hits in 34 at-bats over his previous nine games. In that span, he struck out 12 times and walked five times.
Aaron Boone said Judge was just going through a little bit right now and that the issue was probably timing related. Boone said fastballs got on him, that he was a little out in front on some other pitches, and that usually when a hitter goes through it, it means good things are coming on the other side. So, a little in between, probably, the manager said.
The timing of the slump matters because the Yankees' offense has not offered much help. Over the last 15 days, they have posted a.660 OPS and scored 50 runs, a total that ranked 21st in the game over that span. Friday brought another difficult backdrop, with the East division-leading Tampa Bay Rays coming to town after sweeping the Yankees in three games at Tropicana Field from April 10-12, including two one-run games and one decided by two runs.
Judge said anytime you've got a hot team coming in, it's going to make it tough, especially a hot team like that where they took care of business when we were in Tampa the last time we saw them. He added that the club has to tighten up a couple of things and that the offense is not too far off.
The numbers still show why the slump stands out. Judge won his third American League MVP last year after hitting 53 home runs and leading MLB with a.331 batting average, a.457 on-base percentage and a 1.144 OPS. Even now, his.935 OPS is seventh best in baseball and his 16 home runs are tied for third most, while Ben Rice's 1.029 OPS leads the sport. But the Yankees need more than what they have gotten lately, and Judge knows it. The question now is whether the next series can turn the tone before the gap in the standings grows any larger, with New York already 4 1/2 games back of Tampa Bay.
