TALKIN’ ’BOUT PRACTICE
Judge rips in BP before Yanks blast Twins
It must have been comforting for the Yankees to see Aaron Judge hitting balls in the seats again on Monday — even if it was just batting practice.
Six weeks after he initially broke his right wrist, the Yankees slugger was taking normal, on-thefield batting practice for the first time.
And seemingly, even after a month of not swinging a bat, Judge hasn’t lost that pop. He hit several balls into the stands during five rounds of batting practice, according to multiple reports.
Judge said he is able to progress through his hitting program now, even though he admitted there was still pain in the wrist. Despite the fact he will need to face live pitching before he is able to return to form, Judge is confident he will return in time to play “meaningful games down the stretch.”
And the Yankees desperately need Judge’s bat to help spark an offense that had been stumbling before finally breaking out in a 7-2 victory over the Twins Monday. Most promisingly, Gary Sanchez notched three hits, including a solo home run, and Brett Gardner, who was batting ninth, went 2-for-5.
J.A. Happ threw six scoreless innings, again being the veteran stopper the Yankees have needed.
A day earlier, the Yankees had been waiting for the big hit that never came, a scenario they have seen too often in the last month. Built around power hitters
who are prone to streaks, the Bronx Bombers have struggled to score when they are not hitting homers.
The way they lost Sunday certainly has to raise some concerns about the consistency of their offense as they head into the final stretch.
There is no question the Yankees are built to score on home runs and they do it better than any other team in baseball right now. They are currently on pace to challenge the Mariners’ 1997 single-season record of 264 homers.
They have scored 51% of their runs this season on round trippers.
But as they showed Sunday, they struggle when they aren’t hitting homers. That has been exposed as they have had some of their biggest sluggers, like Judge, on the disabled list over the last two months. Sunday marked the first time in 10 games the Yanks didn’t hit a homer. They let their scoring chances wither and die on the bases.
They had the bases loaded and no outs in the fourth inning and yet the only run they could bring home came courtesy of a bases-loaded walk. The Yankees went an embarrassing 2-for-15 with runners in scoring position Sunday.
“We had opportunities, had quite a few,” said Brett Gardner, whose frustration led to him getting ejected in the ninth inning Sunday. "Obviously myself and a couple guys came up with guys on base and we couldn’t seem to get the guys in.
“It was a tough day overall for us,” Gardner said.
It would be fine if this was just one tough day overall, but it’s been an ongoing issue.
The Yanks are hitting a dismal .248 with runners in scoring position this season. That ranks them 20th in the big leagues in those situations.
It is also in stark contrast to the teams the Bombers could have to face in the postseason. The Red Sox lead the majors with a .295 batting average with runners in scoring position and they are just above the defending World Series champion
AAstros, who hit .286 in those situations. Even the A’s are significantly more productive with RISP, hitting .262.
With Judge out and Sanchez and Didi Gregorius missing time over the last two months, Giancarlo Stanton has had to provide a lot of the power. nd he has seemingly been tapped out of it lately.
Stanton is just 4-for-hislast-29 on this road trip. Perhaps more importantly, he has not hit a home run since Aug. 30, going 39 atbats without a homer since he hit his 300th career dinger at the Stadium.
Monday was a big step forward for Judge, who has progressed quickly from hitting off a tee for the first time a week ago, to hitting homers in BP. It was also reassuring for the Yankees, who need him doing that in games ASAP.