NEW YORK — Through their first 66 games Youth Danny Shelton Jersey , the New York Yankees have shaken hands 46 times to celebrate a win.
While some of the big names such as Giancarlo Stanton, Gary Sanchez and Didi Gregorius have experienced slumps, a consistent bat is Aaron Judge.
Judge is following up winning Rookie of the Year by constantly delivering key hits for the Yankees, who go for the four-game sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.
After setting a rookie record with 52 homers, Judge is batting .283 with 18 homers and 46 RBIs to go along with a .399 on-base percentage and 49 runs. He leads the Yankees in homers, RBIs and runs scored while his 17 doubles are second-most behind rookie Miguel Andujar.
“He’s just such a good player,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Even when Aaron goes through a few days where he’s not swinging great, the at-bat quality doesn’t really change all that much. You know night in and night out, he’s going to make it really hard on the pitchers and they understand that they have to make their best pitches just to retire him.”
Judge left the homers to Stanton and Sanchez on Saturday but contributed a pair of doubles in a 4-1 victory. He is 8-for-18 on the homestand and has 19 hits in his last 63 at-bats.
“That’s one of my main goals every year, just try to be consistent, especially with the lineup we got,” Judge said. “If I can consistently get on base for the guys around me, I feel like we’ll have a pretty good game.”
Judge’s contributions to the latest win occurred on a day when Sanchez homered for the first time since May 19 at Kansas City against the Royals. He had a bases-clearing double Friday and snapped a 66 at-bat stretch without a homer.
Even with some of the ebbs and flows of some other hitters, the Yankees own the best record in baseball and are 13-3 in their last 16 games.
“We’ve had timely hits, big hits, guys step up Youth Jason McCourty Jersey ,” Stanton said. We haven’t all clicked at the same time. Once that happens and we’re on all cylinders, there’s more room to get better.”
Tampa Bay is hoping Sunday is not when everything clicks for the Yankees given its recent history.
Only Matt Duffy’s ninth-inning homer avoided a second straight shutout. The Rays are 4-12 in their last 16 and on a nine-game road losing streak.
“It’s frustrating losing games,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said after his team mustered five hits and struck out 10 times. “You want these guys to come up here and experience success personally and as a team and the good thing is, we talk about it all the time, these guys have won together, they’re going to be able to withstand some tough stretches.”
It has been a particularly tough stretch for the Rays against the Yankees. They are 0-5 in the season series while getting outscored 31-10.
Tampa Bay is also 10-24 in its last 34 games against the Yankees since Aug. 12, 2016, and 4-18 in its last 22 trips to New York since. That was the day Alex Rodriguez played his last game and one day before Judge made his major league debut.
“That’s a good hitting team,” Duffy said. “We’ve held them to a pretty modest amount of runs considering what they’re capable of, especially in their home park.”
After Luis Severino dominated for eight innings Saturday, CC Sabathia will start for the 522nd time in his career and when he does, he will break a tie with Hall of Famer Jim Palmer and former teammate Andy Pettitte for 38th place on the all-time list.
Sabathia will also go for his 242nd career win, which is one behind former Cleveland Indians teammate Bartolo Colon and Hall of Famer Juan Marichal for 54th on the all-time list.
The left-hander is 4-1 with a 3.15 ERA in 10 starts since returning from a brief disabled list stint April 19. He last pitched Tuesday against the Washington Nationals when he became the fifth pitcher to get 1,500 strikeouts with the Yankees and allowed four hits in 5 2/3 innings of a 3-0 victory.
Overall, Sabathia is at 2,893 strikeouts and inching closer to becoming the 17th pitcher to reach 3 Youth Trent Brown Jersey ,000 strikeouts, though he was not aware he reached 1,500 after striking out Michael A. Taylor on Tuesday.
The left-hander is 16-14 with a 3.77 ERA in 45 career starts against the Rays. His 45 starts and 296 innings pitched against Tampa Bay are his most against any opponent.
Sabathia is 5-0 with a 3.57 ERA in his last seven starts against the Rays.
Tampa Bay will use a reliever to open the game for the second straight time. After Ryne Stanek started by throwing 21 pitches in 1 1/3 innings Saturday, Wilmer Font will pitch.
“It’s weird,” Stanton said of Tampa Bay’s unorthodox strategy. “It’s just like a guy coming out of the pen, how you prep for him, except you do it at the beginning of the game. Get ready for the starter. It’s weird, out of order, but the same sequence.”
Font is 0-1 with a 2.31 ERA in six appearances since joining the Rays last month and Sunday will be his third start for the Rays. On Wednesday, he threw 66 pitches and allowed two hits in 3 1/3 innings during a 1-0 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Rays will make a roster move as shortstop Christian Arroyo will be placed on the disabled list with a strained oblique and Adeiny Hechavarria will be recalled from his rehab assignment after missing 28 games with a strained right hamstring.
Matt Koch will aim for his fourth consecutive victory on Tuesday night, and the Arizona Diamondbacks will try for a two-game road sweep of the Los Angeles Angels.
Arizona (40-32) won the series opener 7-4 on Monday night to extend its lead in the National League West to two games over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Paul Goldschmidt drove in two runs and is batting .426 (29-for-68) with eight homers and 18 RBIs in his last 17 games.
The Angels (38-35) gave up the first six runs of the interleague series opener before dropping their seventh game in the past eight to fall 8 1/2 games back of the Seattle Mariners for the second wild card in the AL. They were 3 1/2 games back on June 9.
“It’s tough to spot them six,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia told reporters after the loss Monday.
Koch (5-3, 4.09) wasn’t expected to be part of the rotation this spring, but an arm injury to fellow right-hander Taijuan Walker prompted the club to recall Koch from Triple-A Reno on April 20.
He was 2-0 with a 2.13 ERA after four starts, lost three straight in mid-May, but has regrouped with the help of exceptional run support. The Diamondbacks have combined for 36 runs in his past four starts.
“You always have to be ready for your opportunity Youth Tre'Quan Smith Jersey ,” Koch told the told Sioux City Journal last week. “You never know when it’s going to come, how early or how late it is, you just have to be ready for it, whenever it is, and try to take advantage of it.”
Koch’s spot in the rotation isn’t set in cement, as veterans Shelby Miller (Tommy John surgery) and Robbie Ray (right oblique strain) are making rehab starts and nearing their returns.
Despite his recent success, his first career appearance against the Angels could determine whether Koch remains in the rotation. He said he’s not focused on that aspect of his performance.
“All I try to do is just get ready for that game and do all I can to keep the team in the game, and try to win,” Koch said. “I can’t really worry about all the other stuff that’s going on or your focus isn’t going to be on what you need to do.”
Koch would be more than willing to occupy a spot in the bullpen if it meant staying with the Diamondbacks.
“I want to be part of the team and if it’s best for the team for me to go to the bullpen I’ll do it, and if it’s best for me to stay in the rotation I’ll do it,” he said. It’s whatever they think will help the team most.”
The Angels are scheduled to send 28-year-old right-hander Felix Pena to the mound for his first major league start.
For the third time this season, Pena (0-0, 10.13) was recalled from Triple-A Salt Lake on Friday. He has made two relief appearances with the Angels this season totaling 2 2/3 innings. Nine of his 10 appearances for Triple-A Salt Lake this season have been as a starter, and he’s 1-2 with a 3.51 ERA for the Bees.
Pena was acquired from the Chicago Cubs in October after making 36 relief appearances over the past two seasons. He has never faced the Diamondbacks.