Yankees blanked by Rays as Aaron Judge gets booed during four-strikeout flop
On an afternoon the Yankees lost the voice of their team, their bats, too, fell silent.
Legendary broadcaster John Sterling said goodbye Saturday, retiring after 35 years behind the microphone, and then watched a game that would not have given his pipes a workout.
The Yankees totaled four hits in 10 innings, lowlighted by a four-strikeout day from Aaron Judge, in a 2-0, extra-inning loss to the Rays in front of a sellout crowd of 47,629 in The Bronx.
The Yankees (14-7) allowed the Rays to even the series and moved to 0-1 in the post-Sterling era thanks to an offense that has scored runs in just one of 19 frames against Tampa Bay pitching.
The face of the suddenly struggling offense is its captain, who heard rare boos shouted in his direction. Judge, who had a shortened spring training because of an abdominal issue, is down to a .179 average and .682 OPS through 21 games.
“Not worried. It’s Aaron Judge,” manager Aaron Boone said in his latest defense of the superstar.
Judge has slumped before, but the Yankees’ single-season home run leader has been a consistent and dominant force since that 2022 breakthrough.
He carried the offense during his MVP season and was nearly slump-proof last year when he was in the lineup, though the torn ligament in the toe forced him to the shelf for an extended period.
On Saturday, Judge again said he is healthy and pointed to what is a sliver of a sample size.
“It’s still early. It’s a long season,” said Judge, who has struck out 14 times in his past six games. “But just missing the pitch. Get a pitch in the zone, I got to capitalize on it.”
On a joint Sterling Day and Judge Bobblehead Day, some in the sellout crowd turned on No. 99.
After his fourth strikeout, an unproductive at-bat in the ninth inning against Tampa Bay’s Jason Adam, Judge heard boos while walking back to the dugout.
“I’ve heard worse, and I’d probably be doing the same thing in their situation,” said Judge, whose first three strikeouts came against Zach Eflin and who has struggled against virtually all types of pitches in the early going.
“He’s beloved,” Boone added. “Those [boos] will turn real quick.”
Judge’s consistent brilliance had shielded some in the lineup from scrutiny in the past few seasons, but Saturday there was little in the Yankees’ order that could do the same for him.
Only Juan Soto (two of the team’s four hits) had a solid day.
The scuffling Gleyber Torres did not start and grounded out in a pinch-hit appearance.
Anthony Rizzo blooped in a hit but is batting .232 with a .601 OPS. The Yankees are hitting .237 as a team, the otherwise promising start to the campaign the result of strong pitching and timely hits.
The Yankees had few opportunities and took advantage of none of them.
Soto smacked a two-out, ground-rule double in the sixth for the beginnings of a threat, but Judge followed with another strikeout.
“It’s hitting, man,” Boone said. “We’ll scratch our heads, and then we’ll look up in a few weeks and wow, Aaron Judge is Aaron Judge.”
Only Nestor Cortes’ brilliance — seven scoreless innings while allowing six hits, no walks and striking out nine — and good work from Luke Weaver and Clay Holmes kept the Yankees in the game.
But in the 10th, the Rays’ offense struck against Caleb Ferguson.
Jose Caballero sent an RBI double into the right-center field gap for the game’s first run.
With one out, former Yankee Ben Rortvedt added an RBI single for a two-run lead that suddenly seemed insurmountable.
The Yankees went quietly in the 10th, when Alex Verdugo and Torres grounded out before Oswaldo Cabrera struck out.
It was not how the Yankees wanted to send off Sterling, whose pinstriped career that began in 1989 saw its ceremonial finish.
But maybe it was poetic that a team that boasts Judge and Soto and received excellence from Cortes fell short.
That’s baseball, Suzyn.
