NEW YORK -- The Bleacher Creatures’ “roll call” was still echoing through Yankee Stadium three pitches into the evening, and already the home team was trailing. Perhaps that’s a good place to begin describing what the Yankees’ last week has felt like.
Anthony Volpe committed a costly eighth-inning error, booting a likely double-play ball that sent the Bombers toward a 3-2 loss to the Angels on Wednesday. June has not been kind to the Yanks, a month that has now seen them lose six straight -- their longest losing streak since August 2023.
"Everyone holds themselves to really high standards. We’re not getting the job done,” Volpe said. “We’re going to keep working and holding each other to that; I hold myself to that. We’re just not performing and not doing the types of things we can control. We can be better.”
One night after several Yankees engaged in a postgame huddle -- Cody Bellinger described it as a chat about “remembering who we are” after three straight shutouts -- Jazz Chisholm Jr. homered to snap the scoreless streak at 30 innings.
Still, the Yanks couldn’t finish on top.
"I felt like we moved the needle in that regard,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Now we’ve just got to go break through like we’re capable of offensively.”
Volpe’s miscue came after Fernando Cruz walked the bases loaded. Boone summoned Tim Hill, who coaxed Jo Adell to chop a grounder to Volpe, but the 2023 Gold Glove Award winner said he did not play the ball aggressively enough. Volpe bobbled it before throwing wildly toward second base.
It was Volpe’s ninth error, third among Major League shortstops (the Giants’ Willy Adames and the Reds’ Elly De La Cruz each have 11). Volpe had a two-out opportunity for redemption in the ninth, coming to bat with a runner at first base, but he fanned against Kenley Jansen to end the game and extend a personal 0-for-17 skid.
Boone suggested some players may be pressing, but Volpe didn’t see it that way.
"We’re just going out there every day playing like it’s Opening Day and having each other’s backs,” Volpe said. “I messed up and Tim had my back. He got out of it and we had opportunities to win. Every day is a new day. That’s the best part of the game.”
Aaron Judge went hitless in four at-bats with two strikeouts, riding a 3-for-28 (.107) funk dating back to the Kansas City series. Judge has acknowledged chasing too many pitches out of the strike zone, which has been a factor in his 17 strikeouts in that span.
"You hit two balls hard today and you don’t get rewarded for it,” Judge said. “I’ve got to show up tomorrow and do my job.”
Nolan Schanuel’s homer off Ryan Yarbrough put the Halos on top quickly, but Yarbrough settled in, allowing the Yanks to claim their first advantage in 52 innings -- since a 1-0 victory last Thursday at Kansas City.
Chisholm hooked a second-inning homer inside the right-field foul pole for his 10th long ball of the year, and Bellinger put New York on top by visiting the short porch in the fourth inning, Bellinger’s 10th blast of the season.
The Yanks are the only team in the Majors to have six players with at least 10 homers (Bellinger, Chisholm, Judge, Trent Grisham, Ben Rice, Austin Wells).
That advantage didn’t last long; Yarbrough surrendered a fifth-inning, game-tying homer to Adell. Yarbrough scattered five hits over 5 1/3 innings, working with Rice, who logged his first Major League start behind the plate. Yarbrough said Rice “did a really good job.”
"It meant a lot,” Rice said. “I was just excited to be in the lineup. Any way I can get in the lineup, it’s a good one.”
These Yankees have an inconvenient history of slumping in June -- dating back to 2023, they’re 32-34 (.485) in the month, compared to 186-145 (.562) in all other months. That trend isn’t ideal, but Judge believes it will flip soon.
"I think you guys asked us the same questions last June when we were going through it,” Judge said. “So guys have been there. We’ve just got to show up and not mope about it.
"If you mope, you pout, it’s going to lead into the next game. I know everybody in this room is determined to go out there and win the next one.”