While some late at-bats were better, the New York Yankees still experienced the same disappointing results at the plate during a lost weekend against the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Yankees hope they can put their hitting woes behind them as they attempt to halt a five-game losing streak Monday night in the opener of a four-game series against the visiting Los Angeles Angels.
New York has been outscored 19-13 during its skid, which followed an 8-2 start through its first 10 games.
The Yankees gave up the first three runs on Sunday before scoring their runs over the final three innings in a 5-4 loss to host Tampa Bay.
Aaron Judge, who hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning, is 3-for-17 during the losing streak and is hitting .218 this season after winning the batting title last season at .331.
New York is 4-for-33 with runners in scoring position during the losing streak.
“Guys are having some tough at-bats, but I think we just need to simplify some things at the plate,” Judge said. “We’re trying to hit every single pitch we see up there and kind of getting ourselves in some bad counts and bad situations.
“I think as a group if we simplify some things, simplify our approach a little bit, hunt the pitch that we’re looking for and kind of pass the baton, we’ll get a better spot.”
The Angels, who are 5-2 in their past seven visits to Yankee Stadium, took two of three games against the host Cincinnati Reds over the weekend. Los Angeles scored 19 runs in its two wins and earned a 9-6 victory on Sunday, marking the seventh time this season that it scored at least five runs.
Mike Trout recorded his second multi-hit game of the season and is hitting .208. Jo Adell also is coming off a multi-hit game and is 12-for-34 in his past eight games. Nolan Schanuel drove in three runs, and Logan O’Hoppe also had a multi-hit game on Sunday.
“We attacked our game plan early and often,” O’Hoppe said after the Angels tied a season best with nine walks. “Even with some good pitches on the edges, I feel like we took some good swings on them and collectively had a good approach. A good day for sure.”
The Yankees will not face Jose Soriano in the series after he struck out 10 in seven innings. Instead, they will face left-hander Yusei Kikuchi (0-2, 6.75 ERA), who has allowed a total of nine runs on 12 hits in 10 1/3 innings in losses to the Chicago Cubs and Atlanta Braves.
Kikuchi is 5-5 with a 3.27 ERA in 16 career games (14 starts) against the Yankees. Last season, he took a 1-0 loss in Los Angeles on May 28 when he allowed one run on four hits in five innings.
Starting pitchers have yet to allow more than three earned runs in any game for New York, which will turn to right-hander Will Warren (1-0, 3.07 ERA) to open the series.
Warren took a no-decision in Wednesday’s 3-2 loss to the A’s when he allowed two runs on five hits and threw 85 pitches in 4 2/3 innings.
He struck out 11 but took a 4-0 loss to the Angels on June 17 when he allowed three runs on six hits in six innings. Warren is 0-2 with a 9.58 ERA in two career outings against them.
–Field Level Media
