"We’re going to come out better” - Yankees captain Aaron Judge expresses optimism amid team’s midseason struggles 

Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees lost 8-4 to the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday at Yankee Stadium. The Reds completed a clean sweep against the Bronx Bombers with a 5-4 and 3-2 win in the first two games of the three-game series.

Yankees captain Aaron Judge recorded zero hits in four at-bats, with no walks and two strikeouts in Thursday’s game. Furthermore, their pitching staff gave up eight earned runs on nine hits with three walks while striking out 10. With this loss, the club has lost 14 of its last 19 games.

Discussing his team’s stretch this 2024 season, Judge said:

(from 0:15 mark onward)

“We’re not really clicking the way we were to start the season. It’s a long season, we’re going to have a tough spell here and there. If you look back at past World Series champions they have all had a tough skid at some point.”

“I think that’s what defines a team: 'How do we respond out of this? How are we going to take the next step to get things going back in our direction?' We’ve got everybody in this room who knows how to do that, it’s going to take all of us coming together to get through it," Judge added.

The Yankees (54-35), are currently ranked second in the AL East standings, behind the Baltimore Orioles (55-32).

Judge continued:

(from 2:51 mark onward)

“You have to go through things like this. We’re going to come out better for it going through these troubles. You gotta get beat down a little bit to kinda see what you’re made of and we’re going to find out real soon.”

Aaron Judge takes responsibility while addressing Yankees' recent struggles

In the fifth inning of Thursday’s game against Cincinnati, Yankees' Juan Soto reached first base after drawing four balls. Soon after, Judge grounded out, missing the opportunity to advance Soto into scoring position.

When asked about the team's recent struggles and if he noticed any specific differences compared to earlier success, Judge responded:

(from 1:38 mark onward)

“I think just offensively just us trying to score first. It’s been a lot of weight on pitcher's shoulders right now to be perfect. You know offensively we’ve got to try to put some pressure on them and get some guys on base maybe run a little bit.

“I’m hitting the first inning, I gotta do something to either get on base or drive a guy in when you know we’ll be in and Soto get on in front of me. So yeah I take a lot of responsibility for that so I gotta step it up there in the first,” Judge said.

The New York Yankees start their next three-game series with the Boston Red Sox (47-39) at Yankee Stadium on Friday.