Consistency key for back half of Yankees lineup going into series against Rangers
ARLINGTON — When the Yankees broke out for their biggest offensive output of the young season Wednesday, it wasn’t just the top of the batting order doing damage.
The 6 through 9 hitters in the Yankees lineup contributed five hits and scored five of the team’s 12 runs in its win over the Minnesota Twins, adding an element to the offense that’s been missing most of April.
Continued production from players like Willie Calhoun, Oswaldo Cabrera and Isiah Kiner-Falefa would help lessen the blows of injuries to Giancarlo Stanton and Josh Donaldson as the Yankees try to get back to winning series, beginning with their four-game road set against the Texas Rangers.
“[It’s] nice to have everyone up and down the lineup contributing,” manager Aaron Boone said following the 12-6 win in Minneapolis.
The Yankees were the final MLB team to lose a series this season, having won or split each of their first six. They’ve since dropped two series in a row and are now facing an upstart Rangers team that has boasted one of baseball’s best offenses to start the year.
The Rangers won’t make things easy for the Bronx Bombers’ hitters, either, with two-time Cy Young winner Jacob deGrom scheduled to pitch Friday, former Yankee Nathan Eovaldi on tap for Saturday and 2022 All-Star Martín Pérez slated for Sunday.
Getting more playing time for the Yankees recently has been the lefty-hitting Calhoun, who didn’t make the Opening Day roster despite a strong spring training. Calhoun, who spent parts of his first six MLB seasons with the Rangers, began his Yankees tenure 3-for-22 but put together back-to-back two-hit games to close out the Minnesota series.
Aaron Judge, who leads the Yankees with six home runs and 14 RBI this season, praised the Yankees’ “quality at-bats” up and down the lineup after Wednesday’s game.
“We went out there and executed our plan,” Judge said. “I feel like the past couple of games, couple series, we’ve been a little passive and almost letting the pitcher kind of dictate the at-bat and dictate the flow of the game.”
The series in Arlington, Texas, is Judge’s first there since he hit his American League-record 62nd home run of the 2022 season at Globe Life Field last September.
The Yankees hope to have offensive help on the way soon, with center fielder Harrison Bader playing in Minor League rehab games this week. Bader, who slugged five home runs last postseason for the Yankees, has not played in an MLB game this season due to a left oblique strain.
Stanton could miss more than a month with his recent Grade 2 left hamstring strain, while Donaldson reaggravated his right hamstring injury during a rehab assignment last week.
Before Wednesday’s offensive outburst, the Yankees had scored three or fewer runs in five consecutive games. Kiner-Falefa and fellow bottom-of-the-order hitter Aaron Hicks have struggled throughout the season, sporting batting averages below .200.
Boone preached the importance of resilience amid the Yankees’ offensive issues.
“You’re going to go through stretches where it’s tough, where it doesn’t always go your way,” Boone said Wednesday. “It’s not always going to be easy, and you’ve got to be able to thrive in those times, too.”
()