Game #60. Judge’s heroics upstage Bauers’ 2 HR night in Yanks’ 6-3 win.

Jake Bauers hit two two-run homers, but it was Aaron Judge who stole the show in the Yankees’ (35-25) 6-3 win over the Dodgers last night.

The Yanks made a few moves before the game. Minor league C Jose Godoy was traded to Baltimore. P Ryan Weber and OF Greg Allen were placed on the IL, and Nick Ramirez and Oswaldo Cabrera flew cross-country to join the Yanks in LA. Cabrera would later HR in the game.

Both Weber and Allen will have MRIs. Weber’s injury is the most concerning. It’s his pitching forearm and you hope it doesn’t mean TJ surgery.

The Yanks got on the board in the top of the second when D.J. Lemahieu hit what appeared to be a single, but the Dodger CF misplayed it into a triple. Bauers followed with the first of his two HR on the evening to put the Yanks up 2-0.

The Dodgers came right back with a run in the bottom of the second when with two out, Yankees’ starter Gerrit Cole hit a batter then the next batter hit one down the LF line that found grass near the foul line despite three Yankees surrounding it.

Bauers hit his second two-run HR (5) of the game in the top of the fourth to put the Yanks up 4-1.

In the top of the sixth, Judge homered (19) to put the Yanks up 5-1.

After six innings, Cole was removed from the game. At first, I was wondering what was going on, since Cole was only at 80 pitches, and was texting friends and asking what manager Aaron Boone was doing. I didn’t see Cole hurt or anything. Here I found out later that Cole was suffering from leg cramps, thus the removal. But it sure seemed scary and confusing at the time because normally you wouldn’t pull an ace who was cruising (1 run, 4 hits) after just 80 pitches over six innings.

It looked worse when Cole’s replacement, Wandy Peralta, had nothing. A single to start the inning, then a ball misplayed in the corner by Cabrera, who had just replaced Bauers in LF for defense. Instead of a double, a run-scoring triple. 5-2. After a walk, Michael King came in for Peralta. King gave up a single that made it 5-3, and the Dodgers had men on first and second, no one out and you were wondering why the pitching change away from Cole (as I mentioned, didn’t know why until later). But King got two lineouts and a strikeout to get out of the inning.

In the bottom of the eighth, King got a strikeout to start the inning, but the batter reached on a passed ball by Jose Trevino. Judge then made a play that may have saved the game. J.D. Martinez lined one to RF and Judge made the catch while crashing into the fence, saving a double and possibly a run. The bullpen gate broke open upon Judge colliding with it, and the runner was given second because of Judge leaving the field of play (although it wasn’t his fault). Anyway, a tremendous play that probably saved a run and possibly the ballgame. Hopefully Judge is OK for tonight’s game. He said he felt discomfort in a toe (the base of the fence had a couple inches of concrete) and it sure made your heart flutter when he crashed into that fence. The Yanks are just getting back Stanton and Donaldson, have lost Allen and Bader for a while, and don’t need to lose their best player.

In the top of the ninth, Cabrera homered (4) to give the Yanks a 6-3 lead, which was the final score.

The Yanks only had six hits in the game, but four were HR.

Judge solo HR (19) and incredible catch.
Bauers two two-run HR (5), 4 RBI.
Cabrera solo HR (4)

Cole (W, 7-0) 6 IP, 1 R, 4 H, 2 W, 5 K. 1 HBP 2.82
Peralta 0 IP, 2 R, 2 H, 1 W, 0 K. 3.00
King (H, 2) 2 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 3 K. 1.65
Holmes (S, 6) 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 0 K. 2.96

Game #53. Rookie decent, but Yanks’ bats silent again in 5-1 loss to Padres.

Because I am leaving soon on a bus trip to today’s Yankees game, this will be the only report. There will be NO minor league report on Friday’s games in the Yankees farm system. Sorry, but this one is all the time I have before I have to leave and catch the bus.

Randy Vasquez, the Yankees’ #14 prospect, made his MLB debut last night and did well for four innings before losing it in the fifth, giving up a long upper-deck HR to Juan Soto that gave San Diego a 2-0 lead. Unfortunately for Vasquez and the Yanks, those runs would be all the Padres would need in a 5-1 win.

The Yankees’ offense struggled again, getting only the one run on seven hits. They struck out 11x.

Ron Marinaccio gave up an upper-deck HR to Fernando Tatis, Jr. in the top of the sixth and it was 4-1 Padres.

The Yanks got their only run in the bottom of the sixth when with one out, Gleyber Torres singled and Aaron Judge followed with a double. Anthony Rizzo got an RBI groundout.

San Diego got a run in the top of the ninth. Ex-Yankee Roughned Odor got the RBI single.

Before the game, Aaron Hicks, previously DFA’d, was given his outright release.

Rizzo 2 hits, RBI.

Vasquez (L, 0-1) 4 2/3 IP, 2 R, 4 H, 3 W, 6 K. 2 HBP. Gave up 1 HR. 3.86 MLB DEBUT.
Marinaccio 1 1/3 IP, 2 R, 1 H, 1 W, 1 K. 1 HBP Gave up 1 HR. 4.26
Weber 3 IP, 1 R, 4 H, 0 W, 3 K. 3.48

Aaron Boone didn’t manage the game, having been suspended for a game by MLB because of recent ejections.

Game #52. Very little offense means a Yanks’ loss, 3-1.

The Yanks only got three hits—two by Willie Calhoun—in losing 3-1 to Baltimore Thursday night.

Clarke Schmidt pitched well, getting out of a bases loaded jam in the first, and also a two-on jam in the third. After the top of the third, manager Aaron Boone was ejected for arguing balls and strikes.

Schmidt gave up a run in the top of the fifth. The Orioles got a couple of runs in the eighth when Wandy Peralta put a couple of runners on then Clay Holmes gave up a 2-run double.

Calhoun got an RBI double with two out in the ninth to drive in the Yanks’ only run.

After the game, Nick Ramirez was sent back down to make room for Randy Vasquez. Vasquez, the Yankees’ #14 prospect, will pitch Friday. It will be his MLB debut.

With the loss, the Yanks are 30-22, 3rd in the AL East. They are 7 games back of Tampa Bay and 4 behind Baltimore. Long way to go, but at present they would be the second wild card team.

Calhoun 2 hits, RBI.

Schmidt (L, 2-5) 5 IP, 1 R, 5 H, 2 W, 4 K 5.58
N. Ramirez 1/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 0 K. 2.00
J. Cordero 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K. 3.63
Peralta 1 IP, 2 R, 0 H, 2 W, 1 K. 2.61
Holmes 2/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 1 K. 3.15
Abreu 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 0 K. 3.86

Game #50. Yanks come back behind the Captain & the Kid, win in 10, 6-5.

Aaron Judge homered to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth, and rookie SS and #1 prospect Anthony Volpe hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the tenth to give the Yankees (30-20) a 6-5 come from behind victory over Baltimore Tuesday night. It was the Yankees’ fifth straight win.

Gerrit Cole got his 2,000th career strikeout, but otherwise wasn’t sharp last night. With two out in the top of the first inning, Cole walked two straight batters, then gave up a two-run double and the Yanks were down 2-0.

He gave up solo homers in the third and fourth to put the Yanks into a 4-0 hole.

Harrison Bader homered (5) in the bottom of the fourth for the Yanks to cut the lead to 4-1, then the Yanks scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game.

Oswaldo Cabrera led off with a single and went to second on a single by Gleyber Torres. After Judge lined out, Anthony Rizzo doubled in one run. A single by D.J. LeMahieu brought home Torres, and Rizzo scored on a Bader SF.

Cole probably should have been pulled at that point, but he started the top of the sixth and gave up two singles to start the inning. Ron Marinaccio relieved him, and things got hairy. One run did score to give the Orioles a 5-4 lead, and the final out was Cedric Mullins (who homered earlier) just missing a grand slam, as he flied out deep to Judge in right.

In the bottom of the seventh, with one out and runners at the corners, D.J. LeMahieu twice tried to bunt the runner home. Instead, Torres was out at home. Manager Aaron Boone said D.J. was doing that on this own. There is a time for that, but that didn’t seem to be the time. Try it first, ok (he fouled that one off) but not a second time. That was a real head-scratcher.

With one out in the bottom of the ninth, Judge tied the game up with his fourteenth HR of the season.

Michael King stopped Baltimore and its ghost runner in the top of the tenth, leaving the runner at second. In the bottom of the tenth, Isiah Kiner-Falefa was the ghost runner for the Yankees, as he PR for LeMahieu. Bader grounded out, and that moved IKF to third. Willie Calhoun was intentionally walked as the Orioles hoped for a DP to get out of the inning, but Volpe flied to CF for a game-winning sac fly.

Torres 2 hits.
Judge solo HR (14). HR tied game in bottom of 9th.
Rizzo 3 hits, RBI.
Bader 2 hits, 2 RBI. Solo HR (5)
Volpe GW SF

Cole 5+ IP, 5 R, 6 H, 3 W, 2 K. Gave up 2 HR. 2.53 2000th Career K.
Marinaccio 2 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 W, 2 K. 3.75
Peralta 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K. 1.83
King (W, 1-1) 2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 3 K. 1.95

Off night for Cole, but five scoreless IP by the bullpen.

Game #49. Yanks sweep Reds behind Bader, Gleyber HRs. Sevy strong in coming off IL in 1st start of season.

Luis Severino pitched 4 2/3 innings, giving up only one disputed run in coming off the IL. It was Sevy’s first start of the season. Now we continue to wait on Rodon’s return.

The Yanks beat the Reds, 4-1, Sunday in a game that started at 11:35 AM Eastern Time. With the win, the Yanks swept the three-game series from Cincinnati. Tomorrow (Monday) is an off day for the Yanks. It was the fourth win in a row for New York, sixth in the last seven games and 11th in the last 14 games. After ending April at 15-14, the 29-20 Yanks have gone 14-6 so far this month.

Aaron Judge was given the day off so that with the off day on Monday, he’d have two days off before the Yanks take on Baltimore and San Diego in the upcoming days.

Severino gave up his only run in the bottom of the first inning. A leadoff walk, then two outs, but then a fly ball down the RF line was originally ruled foul but then overturned to fair. The umpires ruled the runner to score and placed the batter on second. Manager Aaron Boone argued against the run scoring and was ejected. (Reds’ manager David Bell would be ejected later in the game). The runner was going on the pitch with two out, so he probably WOULD have scored, but once the ball was incorrectly called foul, everyone stopped. I think Boone’s argument was that if they were going to overrule the call with the correct call and give a double and two bases, then the runner should not be given the run but be stopped at third.

The umps must have had a tough time waking up for the early start. Sevy picked off a runner only after the original call was overturned, and Anthony Volpe was called out on strikes on a pitch a replay clearly showed was high for a ball.

The 1-0 score stood until the top of the fifth, when Harrison Bader hit a 2-run HR (4) to give the Yanks the lead. That trade of Montgomery for Bader doesn’t look too bad now. Monty is doing OK with the Cardinals, 4.21 ERA but only a 2-6 record to show for it. Since the deal he is 8-9, 3.60. Looks like he isn’t getting much help over there. It’d be nice to have Monty but boy, can Bader go get them in CF and he is showing more power than we thought (5 HR in last year’s postseason and 4 already this year). Bader is bringing a great deal of energy.

Gleyber Torres upped the lead to 3-1 in the top of the sixth with his seventh HR of the season.

In the top of the seventh, Jake Bauers walked with two out, and newly acquired Greg Allen ran for him. Allen stole second and went to third on a WP. Anthony Volpe doubled home Allen to make the score 4-1.

Clay Holmes gave us a scare in the bottom of the ninth by loading the bases before closing out the game.

Because Sevy was coming off the IL and had a pitch limit, he was pulled one out away from earning the victory.

Torres solo HR (7).
Bader 2-run HR (4).

Severino 4 2/3 IP, 1 R, 4 H, 1 W, 5 K. 1.93
Abreu (W, 2-1) 1 1/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K. 4.24
Cordero (H, 3) 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K. 2.14
Peralta (H, 5) 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 0 K. 1.93
Holmes (S, 5) 1 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 1 W, 1 K. 3.26

Game #44. Judge answers critics, but German face suspension, Hamilton IL after Yanks’ 6-3 win.

There has been a lot of B.S. in Toronto the last few games. In hitting his second HR of the game on Monday night, Aaron Judge was caught glancing into the dugout shortly before hitting the HR. People accused him of picking up a sign and cheating. Judge, as well as manager Aaron Boone, explained that Judge was looking over to see who was still chirping at the umpire after Boone had gotten ejected for arguing a bad call on Judge—a strike that once again, was too low for Judge. Judge wanted to also give a signal that “hey, shut up now, I am hitting here.”

Of course, not everyone bought that explanation, and instead wanted to state that Judge, one of the most loved and respected players in the game—a decent player who doesn’t show up anyone—was cheating.

Judge answered those people with a 2-run HR that broke open a tie game and was the winning blow in a 6-3 Yankees (25-19) win over Toronto last night. This time his eyes didn’t move off the pitcher. Take that!

The game wasn’t above other controversy though. And besides controversy, other problems for the Yanks. Both teams sniped at each other for where their base coaches were standing. It was so petty. One thing is for sure. If I were a third base coach and Judge was at bat, I would not be in the coaches’ box but as far back as legally possible. A foul liner off of Judge’s bat, if it hit me in the head, could kill me. The B.S. about where the coaches were standing was juvenile.

The scoring started when the Yanks scored two runs in the top of the third. Isiah Kiner-Falefa (IKF), who had a huge night, walked to start off the inning. Jose Trevino, who also had a big night, singled IKF to third. Gleyber Torres singled in a run. After Judge struck out, Harrison Bader hit a grounder that turned into a DP (Torres’ baserunning last night left something to be desired) but Trevino scored before the out on Torres at third so the Yanks were up 2-0.

Yankees’ starter Domingo German retired each of the first nine batters he faced but was ejected before the bottom of the fourth inning due to having too much stickiness on his hand. This is similar to the situation Max Scherzer of the Mets had last month, and Scherzer got a 10-game suspension out of it along with the ejection. We can expect the same for German. German had trouble with this same umpiring crew regarding rosin last month. Now it happened again. German claimed it was rosin on his hand. The umpires claimed it was something else that was stickier than rosin. One thing is for sure, and that is that German crossed the line, but MLB needs to define better what the line is as far as rosin is concerned. David Cone, a former pitcher, had a good video recently showing that in trying to wipe off rosin, that alcohol with water (I may be wrong here as far as what all it was) made the rosin even stickier in trying to get rid of the rosin. There is something going on, and MLB has to be better at defining what the line is, and in having something to remove rosin without making things worse.

Anyway, no German for a while. While the Yanks will be getting Luis Severino back shortly (see my minor league report for how Sevy did last night), the Yanks were shorthanded in the rotation to begin with, and a German suspension doesn’t help. You can’t call up someone from the minors just because of a suspension. Expect a couple of bullpen games while German is out.

To make matters worse, the pitcher who replaced German in the game was Ian Hamilton, who had to be pulled a bit later because of right groin tightness, and he is bound for the IL. I’d expect Greg Weissert to be recalled. If not him, then maybe Matt Krook or Nick Ramirez.

Back to the game. In the top of the fifth, IKF, not one for power, hit his first HR of the season to give the Yanks a 3-0 lead. But Ron Marinaccio gave up the lead as the Blue Jays scored three times in the bottom of the fifth.

That led to Judge answering the critics with his 2-run HR (11) in the eighth. The Yanks added another run in the ninth on a double by IKF, who came around on a couple of flyouts, with Torres getting the SF.

The win moved the Yanks into a virtual tie for third in the AL East with Toronto (Toronto is percentage points ahead), 7 1/2 back of Tampa Bay.

Yankees’ ace Gerrit Cole is on the mound tonight for the Yankees.

Torres 2 hits, 2 RBI but also out twice on the basepaths with baserunning mistakes.
Judge 2-run HR (11) Take that, critics!
Kiner-Falefa 2 hits, RBI. Solo HR (1).
Trevino 3 for 3.

German 3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 2 K. 9 up, 9 down. but ejected & 10-game suspension coming up. 3.75
Hamilton 2/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 2 W, 2 K. 1.23 IL stint coming up.
Marinaccio (BS, 3) 1 IP, 3 R, 4 H, 0 W, 1 K. Gave up 1 HR. 4.74
Weber (W, 1-0) 2 1/3 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 0 W, 0 K. 5.06
Holmes (H, 3) 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 1 K. 3.86
Peralta (S, 3) 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 0 K. 1.65 Has he replaced Holmes as closer?

Quick notes: Great job by Weber. Also, Bader’s defense is unreal.

Game 43. Judge HRs twice in Yanks 7-4 win.

You never know, sometimes.

The Yanks went with Jimmy Cordero to start the game, and then brought in Jhony Brito afterwards. It worked like a charm for seven innings.

Against ace Alek Manoah of Toronto, Yankees’ manager Aaron Boone gave both Harrison Bader (for 8 innings, he came in as a defensive replacement in the ninth) and D.J. LeMahieu the night off. Jose Trevino had the night off too.

But Aaron Judge (twice) and Willie Calhoun homered, and the Yankees (24-19) beat Toronto 7-4.

The Yanks gave Cordero a three-run lead before he took the mound. Judge hit a solo HR (9) and a couple of batters later, Calhoun hit a 2-run shot (3) to make it 3-0.

The Yanks added two runs in the fourth. Anthony Volpe led off with a double, then Oswaldo Cabrera walked. Kyle Higashioka singled in Volpe with Cabrera going to third. Aaron Hicks walked to load the bases. After Jake Bauers popped up, Judge walked to force in a run. 5-0.

In the top of the sixth, with one out, Bauers walked and stole second. Maybe not a smart play by Bauers, because then Judge was intentionally walked. Toronto was hoping for an inning-ending DP but Anthony Rizzo spoiled that by hitting an RBI double. 6-0.

In the top of the eighth, Boone was ejected for arguing a called strike on Judge that was clearly low. No one gets as many bad calls called on him than Judge. Umpires need to and don’t adjust the strike zone for Judge. He is 6’7″. A ball at the knees for a normal player is LOW on Judge. Anyway, Judge hit a 462 ft. bomb, his second HR of the game and tenth of the season, to make the score 7-0. He just had a 2-HR game the other day, so hopefully he is back and on a hot streak.

Toronto got four runs in the bottom of the eighth. A questionable call on a double (it looked foul) started the rally, Gleyber Torres made an error, and a couple of bloopers. Michael King stranded two to end the inning and then closed it out in the ninth.

Judge 2 for 2. Both hits HR (solo and 2-run) (10). He also drew 3 walks.
Calhoun 2-run HR (3)
Cabrera was 0 for 2 but drew 3 walks.

Besides their 8 hits, the Yanks drew 10 walks.

J. Cordero 2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 0 K. 2.50
Brito (W, 3-3) 5 1/3 IP, 4 R, 2 ER, 6 H, 0 W, 2 K. 5.45
Hamilton 1/3 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 0 W, 0 K. 1.27
King (S, 3) 1 1/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 0 K. 2.38

Game #40. More Bobbleheads! Rizzo’s 2 HR on his bobblehead nights lead Yanks to 6-5 win.

The Stadium was packed for a big matchup against the team with the best record in baseball, the Tampa Bay Rays, and also for the Anthony Rizzo bobblehead that was given away.

And based on the results of last night, more bobbleheads for the rest of the team may be on order.

Rizzo hit two homers, the last being a 2-run shot in the bottom of the eighth, to lead the Yanks (22-18) to a 6-5 win.

Gerrit Cole struggled through five innings and wasn’t sharp. He gave up a HR in the top of the first inning to Randy Arozarena.

Rizzo came right back with his first HR of the game to tie it at one in the bottom of the first.

Jose Siri homered off Cole in the top of the second to make it 2-1, Rays. Even after giving up the HRs, Cole (who needed 31 pitches to get out of the first inning) had to escape two-on jams to close out both the first and second innings. It could have been much worse.

Anthony Volpe homered (5) to tie the game in the bottom of the fifth.

In the bottom of the seventh, D.J. Lemahieu led off with a single, and after a force-out, Jake Bauers got a PH single. Volpe singled to put the Yanks up 3-2. After a flyout, Oswaldo Cabrera singled to make it 4-2, but Cabrera was thrown out trying for second.

It seems that every bullpen move manager Aaron Boone makes lately, even if it is the right move, is backfiring. Michael King gave up a 3-run HR to Josh Lowe in the top of the eighth that put Tampa Bay up 5-4 and that had the crowd worried. Talk about deflating the mood.

But in the bottom of the eighth, Aaron Judge walked, and Rizzo followed with his second HR of the game (8) to put the Yanks up 6-5 and they held on for the victory.

Rizzo 2 hits, (both of them HR (8) a solo and 2-run shot) 3 RBI
Volpe 2 hits, 2 RBI. Solo HR (5).

Cole 5 IP, 2 R, 5 H, 2 W, 4 K. Gave up 2 HR. 2.22
Hamilton 1 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 0 W, 3 K. 1.29
King 1 1/3 IP, 3 R, 4 H, 1 W, 0 K. Gave up 1 HR. 2.53
Holmes (W, 1-2) 2/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 1 K. 4.61
Peralta (S, 1) 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 2 K. 1.88

Aaron Judge is overdue. He had the IL stint, but his last HR was April 19. Hopefully he busts out—big time—soon.

How tough is the AL East? Despite a 22-18 record (at this pace, 89-73 for the season, which isn’t great but not bad at all) the Yanks are in last place in the division, 8 games out. With that record, they would LEAD the AL Central. Still and all, the Yanks are only 1/2 game out (it’s early) of a playoff spot. We are 1/4 of the way through the season. Some players have to improve. A lot of others need to get healthy.

Game #39. Weak bats, bad bullpen lead to 8-2 loss for Yanks.

The Yanks (21-18) lost Thursday night to Tampa Bay, 8-2.

Domingo German pitched well, but …. I ‘ll get to that in a moment.

He gave up an unearned run in the top of the fifth. Anthony Rizzo made a two-out error, then a double put the Rays up 1-0.

In the top of the sixth, manager Aaron Boone made a move that had me screaming. German got the first two guys out, then gave up a walk. Boone had the quick hook again. Remember when he pulled German with one out in the ninth, a 2-0 lead, man on, German having pitched a two-hit shutout to that point, and it all backfired into a 3-2 loss?

Well, in 8 starts this year, Boone has pulled German in the middle of an inning 5 times. And it’s basically backfired each time. 10 runs, not all charged to German, have ensued. You think Boone would learn his lesson. Nope.

So instead of leaving German in to get one more out and get out of the inning, he brought in Ron Marinaccio. It backfired again. Marinaccio gave up a hit, HBP and then a bases-clearing double. 4-0 Rays, and with the way the Yanks were hitting (or not hitting) last night, game over.

Boone’s move may not have made a big difference anyway, because the Yanks didn’t score until two outs in the ninth on a Gleyber Torres single.

Meanwhile, Marinaccio wasn’t the only bullpen guy who didn’t have it. Tampa Bay got a run off of Albert Abreu, then three off of Ryan Weber, who was brought up earlier in the day when Deivi Garcia was sent back down.

But Boone? If German is doing well, next time… .leave him in to finish the inning.

Torres 2 RBI
Bauers 2 hits.

German (L, 2-3) 5 2/3 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 H, 3 W, 3 K. 4.00
Marinaccio 1/3 IP, 2 R, 2 H, 0 W, 0 K. 1 HBP 2.70
Abreu 1 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 2 W, 0 K. 5.09
Weber 2 IP, 3 R, 5 H, 0 W, 1 K. Gave up 1 HR. 13.50 Season debut.

So far Aaron Judge has been ok, but not AARON JUDGE. 39 K in 102 at bats. 6 HR. A bit of a hangover after last year’s greatness? Hopefully he gets back to being AARON JUDGE soon.

Game #33. Misplay in LF costs Yanks. 5-4 loss drops them 10 back.

After keeping Aaron Judge, owner Hal Steinbrenner promised him that there was enough money to make more moves.

But the Yanks only made one move after that—signing Carlos Rodon, who hasn’t pitched at all yet for the Yanks this year. More on that later.

One move the Yanks didn’t make, and it is costing them now, is that they didn’t address left field. They wanted to retain Andrew Benintendi but lost him in free agency to the White Sox (the White Sox have a terrible record right now at 10-22 before last night, and although Benintendi is hitting .275, it is without any power. His OPS+ is just 83, 100 being average).

I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Yanks do something to address LF. There has been misplaced trust that Aaron Hicks should have a bounce back season. Hicks before last night’s game was hitting .146 with no extra base hits and is below a converted infielder (IKF) on the totem pole. IKF is a converted infielder hitting .196 with no extra base hits before last night’s game. Oswaldo Cabrera has not built on the success he had in his MLB beginnings last year. He is struggling at .196. Franchy Cordero had a hot week but has been sent back to the minors after hitting just .151. Willie Calhoun has been DH-ing because his defense is subpar. The Yanks’ LF production may be the worst in the majors at that position this year.

With the struggles of those players, and injuries, the Yanks have brought up Jake Bauers. The journeyman OF hit a HR the other day, but in just his third game with the Yanks, he misplayed a fly ball last night into a run-scoring double, and that proved to be the deciding run in a 5-4 Yanks loss last night. The loss to Tampa Bay dropped the 17-16 Yanks ten games behind those first-place Rays in the AL East.

So yes, injuries have hurt, but LF is a place where no one has gotten injured. The Yanks just haven’t received any production there and I would expect and hope that something is done to fix that soon.

Speaking of Rodon, the lefty pitcher will have a cortisone shot in his back next week. His condition is chronic. Sigh. He was just signed to a 6-year deal for $162MM. When right, he is lights out, but now you wonder if he can manage that back issue or if he turns out to be another Pavano.

I wanted and applauded the Rodon signing. Of course, I, and probably the Yanks, not to mention Rodon, didn’t know there was going to be a chronic back issue to come with it.

Last night’s game started poorly. Starter Jhony Brito gave up a HR to Randy Arozarena in the bottom of the first. Arozarena was HBP twice later in the game, causing Arozarena and the Rays to become infuriated and causing Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash to be ejected.

Tampa Bay, who are 18-2 at home this season, scored in the bottom of the second to make it 2-0. Yandy Diaz touched Brito for a HR in the bottom of the third, and the Rays tacked on another run after that. 4-0 Rays after three.

The Yanks tied it up in the top of the sixth. With one out, Anthony Rizzo singled. Gleyber Torres doubled home Rizzo. D.J. LeMahieu walked and after Willie Calhoun struck out, Harrison Bader hit his first regular-season HR as a Yankee (he had five in last year’s postseason) to tie the game.

In the bottom of the seventh, with one out and a man on first, Wander Franco hit a fly ball to left. Stats said there was a 95% chance of it being caught for an out. Instead, Bauers misplayed the ball into a double. The Yanks almost got the runner at home. He was originally called out, but the play was overturned upon review. The run turned out to be the deciding run.

In the postgame show, Jack Curry on YES mentioned what I believe. That instead of Jimmy Cordero pitching in that seventh inning, that it should have been Michael King. Manager Aaron Boone needs to realize that too, that King is his best reliever right now and to use him as such. Forget roles. You go by what you see and adjust to that.

Yes, injuries have hurt. But the Yanks have to make adjustments. In the bullpen, with King taking on the go-to role, and also in LF, where the Yanks’ LF production so far this season has been weak.

GM Brian Cashman said they tried to make more moves in the off-season but no move made sense. We will see if one makes sense soon. Someone in LF needs to step up or a move has to happen.

And with Rodon’s back being chronic, and with no pitching depth in the minors, a move for a starting pitcher may have to happen as well.

Volpe 2 hits, SB (11).
LeMahieu 2 for 2 with 2 walks.
Bader 3 RBI. 3-run HR (1).

Brito 4 IP, 4 R, 6 H, 1 W, 2 K. 1 HBP. 2 HR given up. 6.08
Abreu 1 1/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K. 1 HBP 4.60
Hamilton 2/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K. 1.50
J. Cordero (L, 1-1) 1/3 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 1 W, 0 K. 3.09
King 1 2/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K 1.42