The New York Yankees will play the rest of the regular season without slugger Aaron Judge. While they understand the magnitude of his loss, they enter the stretch run with belief.
The Yanks scored five runs in the first inning of a 9-2 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks in the first game of a weekend series Friday, and the teams meet again Saturday in Phoenix as Arizona attempts to stay alive in the National League wild-card race.
“Obviously losing ‘Judgey’ hurts,” Cody Bellinger said. “We all know he’s the best hitter in the game. For us in here, our mindset is we’re going to have to find a way. The talent in this room speaks for itself.
“I’m fully confident we have enough talent in here that we can go out and win and beat anybody.”
American League Cy Young favorite Cam Schlittler (14-6, 1.95 ERA) will face Arizona right-hander Brandon Pfaadt (7-3, 3.77) in the second game of the series.
The Diamondbacks (80-74) will ask Pfaadt to end a slump in which they have lost five of six. They are five games behind San Diego, the Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia (all 85-69) for the three NL wild-card spots with eight games to play.
“We know where we’re at,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. “We can’t afford to worry about things we can’t control. I’m going to say there’s time. There’s always time.”
The Yankees (89-64) are 48-39 this season without Judge, who was placed on the injured list Friday with a strained right calf after missing three months earlier with a fractured right rib.
New York is also without injured regulars Jazz Chisholm Jr. (thumb) and Trent Grisham (hamstring), although manager Aaron Boone said Chisholm could return for the Tampa Bay series early next week.
The Yankees, who already have qualified for the postseason, are four games behind Tampa Bay in the AL East, and the teams have a four-game series at Yankee Stadium beginning Tuesday.
“There is no replacing a player as great as Aaron Judge, but we have high expectations that don’t change now,” Boone said. “One thing we do know is that we are in the dance.
“We’ve been built on the strength of our starting pitching all year.”
No one has been as strong as Schlittler, who is in his first full season and has made every start while Max Fried, Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon have missed time with injuries or recovery time.
Schlittler has won four of his last five starts and has given up one run or fewer in each of his last seven. He was struck on the back of his right leg by Bo Bichette’s 111.5 mph comebacker on his 94th and last pitch of a 2-0 victory over the New York Mets last Sunday, but shrugged it off.
“You have an ace at the top that has pitched like that,” Boone said. “That’s a good place to start. He’s been dominant. This is largely in line with who we saw down the stretch last year.”
Schlittler has never faced the Diamondbacks, although Jesus Sanchez is 4 for 12 with three walks against him.
Pfaadt is 0-2 with a 5.74 ERA in his last five starts, and he gave up six runs and 10 hits in 6 2/3 innings in a loss to Texas on Aug. 12. He will be pitching on six days’ rest after being pushed back so Eduardo Rodriguez could start the first game of the series.
Pfaadt lost his only outing against the Yankees, giving up six runs in 4 1/3 innings of a 7-1 loss as a rookie in 2023. Cody Bellinger is 2 for 7 with two solo homers against him and Luis Garcia Jr. is 3 for 7 with a homer.
–Field Level Media
