ARLINGTON — The Yankees’ beleaguered batting order did little to mess with Texas — even after Rangers ace Jacob deGrom exited early with forearm tightness.
The Aaron Judge-less lineup mustered five hits in a 5-2 loss Friday at Globe Life Field, failing to take advantage of 5.1 innings by the Rangers bullpen on a night that began with dominance by deGrom.
Judge remained out Friday after leaving Thursday’s series opener in Arlington with right hip discomfort. The reigning American League MVP underwent an MRI before Friday’s game, and manager Aaron Boone said as the team awaits official word, “It doesn’t seem too serious.”
The injury-riddled lineup couldn’t lift Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt, whose 2023 struggles continued. He gave up five runs on 10 hits over five innings Friday to drop to 0-3, but also recorded a season-high eight strikeouts.
“There’s a lot of good I took out of it, but there’s a lot of things that I’ll need to continue to work on,” Schmidt said. “Obviously, I take full responsibility of it, and just continuing to learn from each outing and get better each time.”
The Yankees missed Judge at the plate and in right field, where Franchy Cordero got turned around on a second-inning Robbie Grossman line drive that landed for a double, helping to ignite a two-run rally. Jonah Heim later sent an RBI double just past the extended glove of Cordero in the third inning, then scored on a two-run home run by Grossman.
Boone described both plays as “really difficult chances” on hard-hit balls, but Cordero, who was optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after the game, said he felt he should have caught them.
“Baseball is like that sometimes. Things don’t work out the way you want it,” Cordero said. “The thing is, you’ve got to keep on working so you make sure, plays like that, you make them in the future.”
The Yankees’ lone runs came on a fifth-inning RBI single by Kyle Higoshioka and a sixth-inning sacrifice fly by Willie Calhoun, who spent parts of his first six MLB seasons with Texas. Both runs came against Dane Dunning, who hurled 3.1 innings in relief of deGrom.
Facing the Yankees for the first time since leaving the crosstown Mets in the offseason, deGrom retired the first 10 batters before giving up a fourth-inning walk to Anthony Rizzo. Calhoun added a single later in the frame, and deGrom exited immediately afterward at just 50 pitches.
It’s the second time in six starts this season that deGrom came out of a game due to an injury. He also left his April 17 outing against the Kansas City Royals with wrist soreness after four no-hit innings but didn’t miss his next turn.
The 34-year-old deGrom pitched nine seasons for the Mets, winning back-to-back National League Cy Young Awards in 2018 and 2019 and finishing top 10 in the voting four other years. Injuries limited him to 26 starts over the last two seasons, however, and he signed a five-year, $185 million contract with the Rangers in December.
Judge suffered his injury in an awkward, head-first slide into third base Wednesday against the Minnesota Twins. He didn’t address the media before or after Friday’s game, but Boone said the Yankees are waiting for head team physician Dr. Chris Ahmad to read the results of his testing.
“It seems like it could be day-to-day, but it also could be a short stint [on the injured list]. We’ll have to see when Dr. Ahmad weighs in,” Boone said.
Judge is the latest lineup regular to miss time with an injury, joining Giancarlo Stanton, Josh Donaldson and Harrison Bader. He said after Thursday’s game that he felt his hip grab at him during his second at-bat.
The 31-year-old Judge leads the Yankees with six home runs and 14 RBI.
“He’s arguably the best player in the sport, and it’s no secret what he means to our team,” Boone said before Friday’s game. “Hopefully we don’t lose him for long.”
Friday marked the sixth time in eight games the Yankees scored three or fewer runs. They won Thursday, 4-2, behind another strong outing by ace Gerrit Cole, who improved to 5-0 this season.
Jhony Brito is set to start for New York on Saturday night, while former Yankee Nathan Eovaldi is scheduled to pitch for the Rangers.
()
