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Aug. 16 (UPI) — Aaron Judge expressed his disappointment with the New York Yankees’ struggles, highlighting the lack of effort from players after their defeat by the Atlanta Braves. With a .500 record, the Yankees’ performance this late in the season is unusually poor.
“Especially down the stretch right now, we’re not stepping up when we need to,” Judge told reporters following the 5-0 loss in Atlanta on Tuesday. “We’ve had numerous opportunities to stay in the race, but we’re not seizing them.”
The Yankees (60-60) currently find themselves in last place in the American League East, trailing the division-leading Baltimore Orioles (74-46) by 14 games. They started the season strong with a 3-1 record and were 11 games over .500 (34-23) by June 4. However, in July, they went 10-15, and their performance has declined, losing five of their last six games, including the current four-game losing streak.
Not since Sept. 6, 1995, when they reached a .500 record of 61-61, have the Yankees been in this position late in a season. Despite their struggles, they managed to finish the strike-shortened 1995 season with a record of 79-65-1 and secured a place in the playoffs by finishing second in the American League East.
In 2016, the Yankees were 56-56 by Aug. 9 and ultimately finished the season with a record of 84-78, putting them in fourth place in their division.
With the second-highest payroll in Major League Baseball, the 2023 Yankees have the league’s second-worst team batting average (.232) thus far. Their average is only slightly better than that of the Oakland Athletics, who have the lowest payroll in the league and a team batting average of .222.
Additionally, Yankees starting pitchers have the fourth-worst ERA (4.69) in the American League, while the team leads MLB in relief pitcher ERA (3.22).
In Tuesday’s game in Atlanta, Braves starter Bryce Elder allowed only one hit over seven shutout innings, contributing to their victory.
On the Yankees’ side, starting pitcher Luis Severino gave up five hits and five runs in four innings, dropping his season record to 2-8. Braves’ designated hitter Marcell Ozuna and right fielder Ronald Acuna Jr. hit home runs during the game.
Ozuna and Acuna both recorded two hits each for the Braves, while first baseman D.J. LeMahieu was the sole Yankees player to record a hit.
The Atlanta Braves, with the best record in MLB (77-42), will face the New York Yankees in the series finale at 7:20 p.m. EDT on Wednesday in Atlanta.
