Judge returns for Yankees, but can't stop the skid

Aaron Judge's highly anticipated return from the 10-day injured list did not go the way the New York Yankees hoped it would, as their abysmal run of results continued with a limp 2-0 loss in the middle game of a three-game series against the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night.

Judge was back in the lineup as the designated hitter following a nearly two-week layoff with a flexor tendon strain in his right elbow, and it was hoped that seeing him back in the rotation, batting third, would inspire the struggling Yanks to overturn a 4-6 run they've been on since the All-Star slugger stood down.

The anticipated jolt didn't materialize, as Rangers ace Nathan Eovaldi sat down 24 of the 25 batters he faced across eight scoreless innings, allowing only one hit.

It was very much a case of poor timing for Judge, who returned to face one of the season's most dominant pitchers, leading the American League with a 1.38 ERA, and also seemed to be struggling for rhythm at the plate, going 0-for-3 and striking out twice.

Following the game, the Yankee captain told the reporters in the Rangers clubhouse that he felt "physically great", but lamented the result, heaping praise on Eovaldi's pitching. "He kept us off the bases and we just couldn't get anything going against him," Judge said.

When asked about the challenge facing the ailing Yankees, he responded: "We've got a lot of work to do. There's a lot of things to clean up.

"You never want the skids to go longer than a week or two, you're gonna go through some tough times, every team does, but, you know, it's about us here in this room.

"We've got to take care of this. It starts with each individual; we've got to look ourselves in the mirror and say: 'hey, I gotta step up, I gotta be better. Enough is enough'.

"The boys here are fired up to change all that and make things right.

"There are a lot of mistakes all around, some mental, some physical, and we've got to fix them and we've got to fix them now."

There's also still no clarity on when the reigning AL MVP will return to the outfield. Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Judge is supposed to start a throwing program Wednesday, but he all but ruled out Judge returning to the outfield this week.

"I don't want to get ahead of myself," Boone said. "See how that first day goes. From there, we'll probably have a better idea after a day or two of that."

Judge, too, was pragmatic, telling the reporters gathered at his locker: "I've no idea, but we'll see how it goes tomorrow, and, hopefully, I can get out there, because we need all of the big boys in the lineup."

Boone said Judge came away from a trip to the team's spring training facility in Tampa, Florida, "pretty upbeat about it".

"I think down in Tampa, he did a lot of things. Didn't throw, but did a lot of things in kind of preparation for that throwing. So far, so good. So, hopefully, when he does start that throwing program, it goes well and he can progress fairly quickly."

Tuesday's loss was Judge's first game since July 25 because of the elbow strain. An MRI showed no acute damage to his ulnar collateral ligament, and he had a platelet-rich injection July 27, when he was placed on the IL in a move retroactive to the previous day. The first time Judge said he felt pain in the elbow was July 22 in Toronto, after he made a strong throw home when George Springer singled to right field.

Judge entered Tuesday night's game hitting .342 and was fourth in the majors with 37 homers and fifth with 85 RBIs.

New York's second loss of the Texas series was the club's fifth in a row, and consigns the Yankees to a second series loss in a row. They have fallen to third place in the AL East behind Toronto and Boston. In first place at the start of July, the Bronx outfit has slumped to six-and-a-half games behind the Blue Jays, and currently holds a wild-card spot three-and-a-half games behind the Red Sox.

"Hopefully, it's the start of something really good," Boone said of Judge's return.

Judge's comeback was part of a bevy of roster moves, headlined by the Yankees sending reliever Jake Bird to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre just five days after acquiring the right-hander from Colorado before the trade deadline.

Bird allowed seven runs — six earned — in two innings over his first three appearances with the Yankees, capped by Josh Jung's three-run homer in the 10th inning of the Rangers' 8-5 victory in the series opener.

"I think he got quite a bit of work there in the first half, a lot of success," Boone said. "And he's had some struggles lately. We still think really highly of him, and think he's not only going to help us this year in the short term, but certainly in the long term, too. So, hopefully, this is something that does give him that little bit of a reset."

The Yankees put newly acquired outfielder Austin Slater on the IL with a left hamstring strain. Slater, traded by the Chicago White Sox last week, exited in the second inning Monday night after running out a fielder's choice grounder.

New York also activated right-hander Mark Leiter Jr, who has been out almost a month with a stress fracture in his leg. Right-handed relief pitcher Yerry De los Santos was recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, and right-hander JT Brubaker was designated for assignment.

Giancarlo Stanton, who has been the Yankees' starting DH for all of his 32 games this season, was displaced by Judge in the lineup. His 10th homer was a two-run shot in the fourth inning on Monday that gave the Yankees a 5-4 lead over the Rangers. He missed the first 70 games of the season with inflammation in the tendons of both elbows.

"That's the tough part," Boone said. "G's been in such a good place for, really, most of the time he's been back. Just feel like he's putting together real consistent at-bats where he's a real threat all the time. That'll be tough to navigate these first few days."

Agencies / China Daily