Judge blasts No. 35, but rest of Yanks' bats fall short

NEW YORK -- The Yankees had the bases loaded in the first inning on Sunday, and that sound they heard was the knocking of opportunity, a drumbeat that they must capitalize upon to escape a slide that has spanned more than a calendar month. Those chances produced nothing, as Gleyber Torres flied out and Alex Verdugo lined out, leaving three men on.

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So it went for much of the afternoon, prompting manager Aaron Boone to lament: “We’ve just got to get one to fall. We’ve got to stick one in the gap in those situations.” Instead, the bats produced little aside from Aaron Judge’s Major League-leading 35th homer, as the Yankees fell to the Rays, 6-4, at Yankee Stadium.

The Yankees have lost 20 of their past 29 games, including two of the first three coming out of an All-Star break which they had hoped would serve as a mental and physical reset.

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“You can’t chase results in this game; it’s going to kill you,” Judge said. “This is a game of failure, but it’s really a game of opportunities. You’ve got an opportunity every time you come up there to do something special. It’s just about staying focused on the process.”

Another three men were left on in the second inning, when Juan Soto bounced a 3-0 pitch into a double play, helping Shane Baz navigate 3 1/3 shaky innings without permitting a run despite five walks.

“We’re kind of getting tested right now,” Verdugo said. “It’s been a little bit of a struggle, but that’s what this game is. It’s ups and downs. We all know it’s hard.”

As he has been tasked to do so many times this season (and in past ones), Judge attempted to carry the load. Facing Jason Adam in the seventh inning, Judge unloaded for a three-run homer, a Statcast-projected 444-foot blast that carried into the left-field seats.

The blast highlighted an afternoon that included a single and a walk for the captain, after Judge had been held to nine hits in 41 at-bats (.220) over his previous 12 games, including two homers.

Judge’s 35 homers are six ahead of the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani (29) among all big leaguers. The Orioles’ Gunnar Henderson (28) is second in the American League. Judge also paces the Majors in RBIs (89), among several other categories.

“This offense was incredible for that first 60, 70 games. It’s hard to be incredible for 162,” said right-hander Marcus Stroman. “[With Soto and Judge,] I think we’re losing sight of how incredible those two guys have been. They can’t do everything every single time. We can’t put all the pressure on them.”

Judge made sure to savor his trot around the bases. The Yanks noticed when Randy Arozarena took his time after a fourth-inning homer off Stroman, and they appeared to be irked when Jose Siri did the same following a seventh-inning blast off Jake Cousins. Judge's 31-second trot around the bases was his second-longest this season, behind only a June 8 home run when it was unclear at first whether the ball had gone over the fence.

But tempers were short by that point, leaving players scanning for release valves. In the sixth inning, Verdugo was rung up on a called third strike by home plate umpire Edwin Jimenez, coming on a Colin Poche pitch that Verdugo believed to be low.

Verdugo had dropped his bat and was on his way to first base when he heard Boone howling from the dugout, prompting Jimenez to say: “It’s a strike.”

That at-bat would result in Boone’s fifth ejection of the season, coming between innings as the manager continued chirping at Jimenez. The focus on Verdugo has intensified recently; since June 14, when he ripped three hits in a win at Boston, Verdugo has batted .150 (9-for-60) while frequently grounding out to the right side of the infield.

“When I go [opposite field], that’s the best version of myself,” Verdugo said. “That’s when I’m letting the ball travel. That’s when I’m staying through the ball. At first, it was more of getting pull-happy. I started getting into bad habits where my front shoulder has been flying out. My hips have been flying toward the first-base side. We’re not trying to hit ground balls.”

José Caballero’s ninth-inning homer off Luke Weaver provided the Rays with an insurance run, which came in handy when Soto doubled home a run, the last gasp before a result that has proved all too familiar of late.

That has prompted Judge and others to wonder: If it was unsustainable to keep their mid-June pace, when they were the Majors’ first team to 50 victories, what needs to happen to generate another hot streak?

“We’ve got work to do,” Judge said. “You can’t sit here and feel sorry for ourselves. Nobody else is feeling sorry for us. You’ve just got to keep showing up the next day, keep trying to improve, make changes and make adjustments.

“If what you’re doing isn’t working, you’ve got to try something new. A lot of guys in this room, they’re trying new stuff, trying to figure things out. That’s all you can ask for. The results are going to come.”