Yankees ‘feel the pressure' as scoreless streak hits 29 innings, nears franchise worst
NEW YORK — The 35,278 fans at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night had mostly scattered for the exits by the time Paul Goldschmidt struck out in the ninth inning. Those who stayed mustered light boos, matching the New York Yankees' energy on the field over the past three games.
The Yankees lost 4-0 to the Los Angeles Angels and were shut out for the third consecutive game. It's the first time since September 2016 that the Yankees have not scored across three games, and their scoreless streak sits at 29 innings, dating to the ninth inning of Saturday's game against the Boston Red Sox. If the Yankees get shut out Wednesday, they will set a franchise record of 38 scoreless innings.
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The 1908 New York Highlanders hold the record for the longest stretch without scoring at 37 innings. Unlike the 1972 Miami Dolphins, who famously celebrated the fall of the last unbeaten NFL team with champagne, there will be no such victory toast from the Highlanders if the Yankees get shut out Wednesday. They're all dead.
'I think it's always a certain point where it's not necessarily going your way and you feel it, and we kind of feel this extra pressure to get the job done,' Yankees center fielder Cody Bellinger said. 'At the end of the day, it's the same game. We've had good conversations. We're going to have good conversations. We're going to keep going, keep playing for each other and get out of this thing.'
The Yankees entered Tuesday's game with the second-best offense in MLB by wRC+. Only the Los Angeles Dodgers were better. This game was a great opportunity for the Yankees to wake their bats up, as the Angels started Kyle Hendricks, who has the worst ERA among all starting pitchers who've thrown at least 200 innings since the start of the 2024 season. Hendricks has the worst Stuff+ for any starting pitcher this season. So, this wasn't a matter of the Yankees facing an ace.
But the Yankees' offense made Hendricks turn back the clock to 2016, when he finished third in the National League Cy Young Award voting. Hendricks pitched six scoreless innings, holding the Yankees to just four hits and one walk. Hendricks racked up nine strikeouts, the most he's had in a game since August 2020.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone credited Hendricks for being a different pitcher from what major leaguers typically see. Hendricks' fastball topped out at 89.2 mph, with his slowest four-seamer clocking in at 85.7 mph. Boone felt his club was trying to do too much at the plate in Tuesday's game, sensing the weight of the scoreless streak.
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'We are one of the best offenses in the league and have had a tough few days,' Boone said. 'I felt maybe pressing a little bit. Hendricks, I thought was good, kind of rocking us back and forth. I thought he had a really good presence on both sides. The sinker was good, and then really changing speeds. But, maybe feeling like, 'Hey, (we) got to get something going, and we got to let it happen. We got to go up and just really focus on having quality at-bats, and that will happen. We'll get there, and hopefully (Wednesday's) that day.'
Tuesday's loss was the first out of the shutouts in which the at-bat quality was dreadful. The Yankees had just five hard-hit balls on the night. Of their 33 plate appearances, in only 12 of those did a Yankees batter see at least five pitches. Boone called the Yankees' ability to make opposing pitchers work one of their hallmarks. The Yankees see the sixth-most pitches per plate appearance this season and lead MLB in walk percentage.
But where the Yankees truly shine is their ability to make damage contact, which they had over the past five days before Tuesday's game. Over that stretch, which includes the 1-0 win over the Kansas City Royals, the Yankees had 40 hard-hit outs, which led MLB, and were second in xwOBA, a measure of contact quality. That is to say, the Yankees should be fine. Their offense likely won't crater.
'I think it's a little bit more highlighted because it's consecutive games,' Yankees catcher Austin Wells said. 'I think it's just baseball. I think we've hit some hard balls. We've had some strikeouts, some weak contact, and I think we've just been playing the game, and I think we need to do that. I don't think there's any reason to change up what we were doing before. I think it's just kind of part of the season, and everyone has the confidence to go out there and put up as many (runs) as we need to.'
This offensive abyss has also coincided with Aaron Judge's first slump of the season. He's now 2 for his last 20 with 13 strikeouts. He's expanded the strike zone more than he usually does, and teams have attacked him with spin. There's not a hitter alive who fans should worry about less when it comes to breaking out of a cold stretch than Judge, but his struggles are only magnified when the Yankees are struggling to score.
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There should be perspective here, though. The Yankees have not suddenly forgotten how to hit. They have not turned into the worst club in the sport. For those more pessimistic: The only team to win the World Series after getting shut out in three consecutive games was the 1913 Philadelphia A's.
There's no doubt that these past five games watching this Yankees offense has likely caused some fans to pull their hair out. It's now on the Yankees to avoid franchise futility and prove that this is merely a blip across a 162-game season.
'It's always shocking to see our group not score runs, especially a few days in a row now,' Boone said.
(Top photo of Aaron Judge: Brad Penner / Imagn Images)
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