NEW YORK – Instead of closing in on title No. 28, the New York Yankees are on the verge of getting swept in the World Series for just the fourth time.
Aaron Judge again looked lost at the plate, starting pitching faltered for the second straight game and the Yankees dropped into a 3-0 Series deficit with a 4-2 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday night.
Judge is 1 for 12 (.083) with no RBIs and seven strikeouts in the Series and is hitting .140 with 20 strikeouts in this postseason. He is down to a .196 average with 15 homers, 31 RBIs and 86 strikeouts in his postseason career.
“Come ready to go tomorrow,” manager Aaron Boone said of Judge’s struggles. “He’s Aaron Judge, and just continue to work and hopefully get on time and connect on some.”
New York has nine hits in the last two games, just three for extra bases, and struck out 11 times on Monday — four looking.
Its bottom four hitters are a combined 6 for 43 with three RBIs, including Alex Verdugo’s two-run homer with two outs in the ninth off Michael Kopech. Yankees hitters are 4 for 20 with runners in scoring position.
“When you do get those opportunities, they’re not as frequent as maybe sometimes during the season, you’ve got to take advantage of it,” Boone said.
Even New York’s bats are easy catches. When Anthony Volpe struck out against Daniel Hudson in the seventh inning, his lumber went flying over the Dodgers dugout. It hit the netting protecting fans in the prime seats, and LA field coordinator Bob Geren snagged the lumber off the rebound.
New York resembles the team that went 10-23 from mid-June through late July, not the one that started 50-22 and rebounded to win the AL East and its 41st pennant.
New York has been swept just three times in the World Series, by the 1922 New York Giants (including a tie game), the 1963 Dodgers and the 1976 Reds.
“Hopefully we can go be this amazing story and shock the world,” Boone said. “But right now it’s about trying to get a lead, trying to grab a game, and force another one, and then on from there. But we’ve got to grab one first.”
Since winning the first two games of the 1981 Series at home against the Dodgers, the Yankees have lost seven in a row to Los Angeles in the Fall Classic.
One out from winning the opener 3-2 in 10 innings, the Yankees have been outscored 12-4 since in this Series.
Carlos Rodón and Clarke Schmidt lasted six innings combined in Games 2 and 3.
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