New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge walks to the dugout after striking out during the sixth inning of a … More
The Yankees received good news a few hours after departing Fenway Park when they found out on the flight back Rafael Devers was being traded from the Boston Red Sox to the San Francisco Giants in a rare stunner of a transaction.
The trade occurred after a shutout loss and the Yankees are still in the midst of a scoreless streak.
It is up to 29 innings and the seventh time the Yankees were blanked in three straight games in their really lengthy and extensive history. The last time was Sept. 22-24, 2016 in the waning days of an 84-win season after the Yankees were sellers for the first time ever and about a week after Aaron Judge’s first taste of the major leagues ended with an oblique injury.
Nearly a decade later, the Yankees are left puzzled or befuddled by the cold spell which coincides with Giancarlo Stanton’s first two games after injuries to tendons in both elbows cost him the first 70 games.
“That’s what we are. We are one of the best offenses in the league,” manager Aaron Boone said. “We’ve had a tough few days.”
The Yankees were 14-for-92 in their last three-game skid without a run and that was the first since July 27-28, 1975 when they spent their second frustrating season at Shea Stadium and ran into Bill Lee, Roger Moret and Vern Ruhle.
This time the pitchers are Brayan Bello, Jose Soriano and Kyle Hendricks, a trio where which of these is not like the other two is a valid question. The answer is Hendricks, a veteran whose fastball topped out at 89.2 in six innings when he got two of his six strikeouts on a suddenly slumping Judge.
The previous two games, the Yankees saw Soriano reach 98 with his fastball and Bello reach 97 with his fastball. And it seemed the Yankees were pressing against the slower stuff in an effort to get something done, which resulted in a brief postgame discussion about the work at the plate the Yankees produced for most of the season until recently.
“There’s always a certain point where it’s not necessarily going your way, and you feel it,” Cody Bellinger said. “You feel extra pressure to get the job done. At the end of the day, it’s the same. We had good conversations.”
Bellinger’s assessment occurred after Boone admitted there might be some pressing going on.
“Maybe they’re feeling like they’ve got to get something going,” Boone said. “We’ve got to let it happen. We’ve got to go out, really focus on having quality at-bats, and that will happen. We’ll get there.”
Los Angeles Angels’ Kyle Hendricks pitches during the first inning of a baseball game against the … More
While Bellinger and Boone were hinting about pressure, the pesky Angels were enjoying their handiwork, notably the fact they shut out the Yankees in consecutive games. While the Angels pestered the Yankees fairly frequently during the early 2000s (see 2002 ALDS, 2005 ALDS), they had not notched consecutive shutouts against them since May 12-13, 1999.
Those nights saw Chuck Finley strike out 11 in eight innings and combine with Troy Percival on a three-hitter along with Omar Olivares surviving six walks in 6 2/3 innings the following nights to combine with three others on a six-hitter.
This time, the Angels threw 12 pitches to Judge, who swung and missed at four of them and got away with the few mistakes.
Just don’t throw anything over the middle, that’s for sure,” Hendricks said. “But I kind of got lucky there, too. A couple chases. Established some heaters in there, and he chased one up. He chased one in, and [I] just threw some good changeups.”
The Angels are starting to become pesky of late to the Yankees, who swept a three-game series in Los Angeles three weeks ago. Those wins were part of a 16-4 stretch to give the Yankees the largest divisional lead in the majors but Hendricks’ ability to befuddle hitters sent the Yankees to a 10th loss in 17 games and searching for answers while their opponent appreciates what was achieved.
“It was up, down, in, out, changed speeds, moved it around, kept them off balance. He was really good out there tonight,” manager Ron Washington said. “And we needed everything he gave us.”
