The New York Yankees have suffered during the early stages of the season in a predictable situation with injuries to their rotation led by Gerrit Cole, who has been out all year, while Luis Gil and Clarke Schmidt remain out. However, Aaron Judge has taken the lead to keep the team in the fight.
With an outstanding performance by Max Fried on the mound, after seven innings of five-hit, 11-strikeout ball, the Yankees defeated the Detroit Tigers 4-3 on Wednesday to snap a three-game losing streak and improve to 7-5. In addition, there was a two-run homer by Ben Rice and Aaron Judge drove in a pair of runs.
The result gives the Bronx Bombers a breather, but they must still put an end to the instability, as according to Joel Sherman, on his podcast with Jon Heyman, the Yankees “feel like they’re just one starting pitcher injury away from being in serious trouble, no matter how good the offense is.”
Aaron Judge stands up for the Yankees
With six home runs on the season and a .354 average in his 48 at-bats, with 20 RBIs, and an OPS of 1.238, Aaron Judge has held up the Yankees’ offense and, in the process, masked deficiencies in the pitching to keep them in the fight.
For Heyman, it’s not just Judge, as even in the rotation there are redeemable elements, even Rodon shows superior numbers to Max Fried.
“Rodon was better than he looked… I think he’ll be fine,” Heyman said, although it’s worth noting that the Yankees‘ last three starters have combined for a 7.0 ERA, which forces Judge and the rest of the lineup to get their bats going to keep the team in the fight while the pitching stabilizes.
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