David Lennon: Losing Aaron Judge has sent the Yankees into a tailspin
Aaron Judge of the Yankees looks on during the second inning against the Detroit Tigers at Yankee Stadium on Monday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The Yankees are now a month into life without Aaron Judge, and after the initial shock of his fractured rib diagnosis, the absence of the three-time MVP has become corrosive, which presents the potential of even greater concern in the weeks ahead.
Losing Judge was never going to be subtle, obviously. But did anyone envision a fiery tailspin of this proportion? The four-game sweep by the Red Sox at Fenway Park was embarrassing enough, then came Monday night’s minimally competitive effort in a 7-3 loss to the Tigers that was a touchdown lead midway through.
“Today was a bad one,” Cody Bellinger said. “No sugar-coating that one.”
The Yankees suffered their fifth straight loss, are now 12-13 this month and slipped to 1 1/2 games behind the idle Rays while continuing their steep downward trend. With five more unearned runs Monday night, the Yankees have allowed 14 over their past five games, the most for any stretch of that length since July of 1990 (h/t to stat guru Katie Sharp). They’ve also surrendered 20 unearned runs in the last 10 games -- after just 22 total in their first 74 games this season, according to YES.
“You’ve got to play clean baseball,” manager Aaron Boone said after Monday’s latest debacle. “Obviously we’ve got some guys down, and a little out of position maybe, so that factors in. But especially when we’re not swinging it like we’re going to typically, you got to take care of the ball, and we haven’t done a good enough job of that.”
Now it’s up to Cam Schlittler, the AL’s top ace, to save the flailing Yankees and he’ll face off against the Tigers’ back-to-back Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal in Tuesday’s must-see showdown. That’s an upgrade from Ryan Weathers, who served up the shortest outing of any starter this season, lasting just 1 2/3 innings Monday, but was ushered off the mound by three unearned runs, courtesy of third baseman’s Jose Caballero’s throwing error sailing past Paul Goldschmidt. That was only the opening act to this pinstriped carnival, however.
Bellinger had a fly ball clang off his glove at the warning track for a two-base error during the Tigers’ two-run fourth inning. Soon after, the Yankees added injury to insult, when Jazz Chisholm Jr. was clotheslined by Jasson Dominguez on a shallow pop-up to rightfield. Dominguez made the catch, but his left shoulder smacked violently into the sprinting Chisholm’s head, sending the second baseman sprawling to the turf.
“It was really unfortunate,” Dominguez said. “I called it, but obviously I didn’t call it loud enough.”
Good thing Chisholm wasn’t sucking on a Blow Pop at the time. Chisholm -- his arms crossed over his face -- laid motionless for a few minutes as the trainer tended to him. Eventually, he walked off the field under his own power and the Yankees later announced that he was put under concussion protocol.
With only three hits Monday, it marks the first time in franchise history the Yankees had three or fewer hits in four straight games. Spencer Jones’ pair of doubles accounted for the Yankees’ only two hits before Amed Rosario’s three-run homer in the eighth finally put them on the scoreboard (The Yankees struck out 13 times with one walk).
The erosion since Judge’s departure is legitimate. Before Judge went on the shelf, the Yankees’ .770 OPS ranked second in the majors, their 4.93 runs per game was fifth, the .243 batting average 13th. Post-Judge, heading into Monday night, they had slipped to a .700 OPS (23rd), 4.33 RPG (19th) and a .230 average (24th).
Ben Rice, who went 0-for-4 Monday with three strikeouts, is hitting .103 (4-for-39) with one homer as his lone RBI over the 10 games. Bellinger also was hitless (0-for-4) Monday and is batting .122 (5-for-41) over his past 12 games, without a home run or RBI. Those are key malfunctioning pieces in what used to be a Ferrari lineup before Judge’s injury.
“We got to be better,” Bellinger said. “There’s really no excuses. I need to be better. Tough guy on the mound (Tuesday) but we got a lot of talent in this room. We can do this.”
No Judge means a much smaller margin for error, and that was never more apparent than the four-game sweep by the Red Sox at Fenway Park, where the Yankees’ suffered breakdowns in every department. On Sunday night, before Rosario broke up Sonny Gray’s no-hit bid with his one-out single in the eighth inning, the Yankees were batting .074 (6-for-81) over a three-game span and had scored only two runs in their previous 25 innings.
What Boone & Co. have to be vigilant about, however, is not sabotaging themselves. Chisholm got himself tossed from Sunday’s finale in the sixth inning, basically handcuffing the Yankees for the rest of the night when they’re already hurting at the plate.
“I got to be better for the team,” Chisholm said Monday afternoon. “I got to stay in the game right there. But things haven’t been going as lucky for us as we want, and I just got caught up in the heat of the moment.”
Now Chisholm is likely out for Tuesday night, and perhaps longer, depending on the concussion tests. As for the rest of the Yankees, they all look shell-shocked, too.
Extra bases
The Yankees placed closer David Bednar on the paternity list before Monday night’s game and replaced him with Jake Bird . . . Max Fried is scheduled to throw two simulated innings (30 pitches) Tuesday but his next step is unclear. Giancarlo Stanton will face Fried in that session and has re-started his running program, but a timeline for his return remains uncertain . . . Boone expects both Trent Grisham (hamstring) and Ryan McMahon (throat infection) to be activated during this week’s homestand.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
