PHILADELPHIA — Since June 18, only the Mariners have scored fewer runs than the Yankees and this past week has been especially rough, with the Yankees putting up more than three runs just once in their last seven games.
That includes Friday night’s 1-0 win over the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park, when Paul Goldschmidt provided the game’s only run with a leadoff homer in the top of the fourth.
And even in victory, Goldschmidt acknowledged the lineup’s issues.
“We haven’t performed up to the level we think we’re capable of and would like to,’’ Goldschmidt said. “We need to do better than we did tonight. Give [Philadelphia lefty Jesús ] Luzardo and their bullpen credit. We’re trying to do everything we can. The results definitely, offensively, have not been there the last few weeks and we know that. Guys are working on it in the cage, talking about it as a group and making adjustments individually and as a group. We’re not content with how we’ve played.”
It’s likely easier to make such admissions after a win — and the Yankees have won four of their last five after another gem by Cam Schlittler in Philadelphia.
But as the Yankees await — they hope — Aaron Judge’s return from a fractured rib, they know they can’t put such a heavy burden on their pitching staff, as Schlittler, Brent Headrick and David Bednar were given no margin for error against the Phillies.
“Everyone is capable of a little more,’’ Aaron Boone said before the game. “We’re all going through it a little bit together. As a result, as a team over the last month, we haven’t been as good as we expect offensively. We all need to get going more.”
The evidence is there, as the Yankees have gone consecutive games without a homer twice in their last eight games.
The last time that happened even once was May 30-31.
They’ve been held to six or fewer hits in three straight games, with just three on Friday: Goldschmidt’s home run and a pair of singles.
The issues with the offense picked up less than three weeks after Judge was sidelined by the fractured rib, as players naturally started to expand the zone in an unconscious effort to make up for the slugger’s absence.
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It hasn’t worked and it’s helped result in the team striking out a dozen times in two of the last three games.
Goldschmidt, who’s been thrust into a larger role than anyone expected with the absence of Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, has slumped of late.
He entered Friday in an 8-for-63 rut, with just two doubles and a homer in his previous 19 games — all while striking out 24 times in that stretch.
But he was able to get a 2-0 sinker that didn’t dip enough and hit an opposite-field shot to right.
“You’ve got to keep going,’’ Goldschmidt said. “Every time you step in the box, you’ve got to stay confident.”
On Friday, that one swing enabled the Yankees to win.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
