The Yankees are grateful to leave Tampa Bay with a rare series win over the Rays, but issues that have plagued the team at Tropicana Field and beyond still linger.
Sure, the Bombers took two out of three in Tampa for the first time since May of 2019 while dealing with all kinds of COVID-19 issues, but it took every bit of their pitching staff to do so. Over the three games, the Yanks scored just five runs, and needed dominant outings from Jordan Montgomery and Gerrit Cole to take a series win when it could have just as easily been a sweep for Tampa.
So while the series win is a big one, the bats are still trying to get going after a historically slow start to the season.
“I’d say it’s back and forth,” Giancarlo Stanton said of the Yankee offense. “We’re grinding. We’re putting together some good at-bats and some good innings, but we have to do that through all nine innings, not in spurts. That’ll get us some more wins.”
Stanton is a good example of the Yankee offense as a whole, as the slugger is batting just .154 with one home runs over his last seven games after going on a torrid 12-game stretch just before this recent slump. The team is still working its way out of a terrible offensive start to the season, but now midway through May, the normally fearsome lineup is still just 17th in the league in OPS at .693, with Judge and Stanton being the only hitters with an OPS currently above .800.
“Just not everyone clicking at the same time,” Aaron Boone said. “I feel like there are some guys that are having more quality at-bats up and down, but a few guys are still scuffling to get it going. As on offense, we’re usually really strong when everyone’s grinding you down. A few guys are still working hard to get clicking.”
Clint Frazier and Brett Gardner have continued to struggle, both carrying batting averages below .200, while Gleyber Torres and Aaron Hicks were both picking it up of late before Torres tested positive for COVID-19 and Hicks was sat with wrist soreness on Thursday. Hicks had been batting .345 with a .962 OPS over his last 10 games before the injury, and if he has to miss any more time, it would likely mean more playing time for both Gardner and Frazier, who have not looked close to breaking out.
While the Yanks have been scratching out more wins, taking four of their last five and seven of their last 10, the catalyst behind the turnaround has been much more about the pitching than the offense. The Yankees have scored five or more runs in a game just twice in their last 10 games, both against the Astros, and haven’t scored multiple runs in an inning since a May 6 win against Houston, the last time they pushed across five or more runs.
“Thankfully we had great pitching,” DJ LeMahieu said. “We didn’t swing it great [in Tampa], we swung it just enough to win the series. [Thursday] we didn’t do anything too well, but we’re in a good place and we’re ready to move on to Baltimore.”
The Orioles and Rangers, both sub-.500 teams and due up next on the schedule, could provide another chance for the offense to start performing like it has over the past three seasons. Luke Voit’s return could provide a spark, but the offense has been searching for a spark since the season began, and the team is hoping that comes soon, as it’s unlikely the pitching staff will be able to consistently claw out wins in low-scoring games for a team designed to pile runs on the board.
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