BRONX, NY — The calendar is about to turn to July, but the Yankees are still looking for a way to put an underwhelming June behind them.
Monday night’s 7-3 loss to the Tigers at Yankee Stadium was another frustrating chapter in a month that has seen the Yankees struggle to find consistency on both sides of the diamond. Coming off a disappointing series against the Red Sox, a four game sweep in Boston, New York hoped returning home would provide a spark.
Instead, Detroit (36-49) capitalized on timely hitting and limited the Yankees’ offense, handing the Bronx Bombers (48-36) another setback.
The Yankees fell to the Tigers in Monday night’s series opener in the Bronx, marking New York’s fifth consecutive loss and 13th in the month of June (12-13 overall since June 1st) Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
Following the team’s recent struggles, manager Aaron Boone remained confident in his club despite acknowledging the difficult stretch.
“We’ve got a really good team. We played poorly on this trip,” Boone said after the four game set in Boston over the weekend, emphasizing that the club must respond rather than dwell on its recent skid.
That response has yet to come.
Perhaps the biggest obstacle has been the absence of Aaron Judge. Without their captain and most dangerous hitter in the middle of the lineup (17 HRs with 38 RBI in 2026), opposing pitchers have attacked the Yankees more aggressively, forcing others to produce in key situations.
With the absence of Aaron Judge in the Yankees lineup due to injury, others like Cody Bellinger, Ben Rice and Paul Goldschmidt, among others, will have to step up from one to nine – Image Credit: Al Pereira/Latino Sports
While Ben Rice has had an All-Star campaign with names like Paul Goldschmidt, Cody Bellinger, Jazz Chisholm Jr., José Caballero, and Anthony Volpe, each showing flashes at the plate, the lineup has struggled to generate consistent rallies during Judge’s absence.
The Yankees’ biggest area for improvement remains situational hitting. Too often throughout June, 12-13 since the calendar flipped over from May, runners have reached base only for innings to end with strikeouts, weak fly balls, or missed opportunities with runners in scoring position—1-4 with RISP Monday night against Detroit and 4-24 combined over the four games vs. the Red Sox at Fenway Park.
Teams firing on all cylinders consistently manufacture runs, even when the big swing isn’t appearing on that given night. New York has recently become too reliant on the long ball instead of putting together quality at-bats from one through nine.
Aaron Boone has remained confident in the Yankees being able to bounce back from this recent cold stretch despite multiple injuries hitting across the month of June – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
Defensively, the Yankees can also tighten the fundamentals. Small mistakes, whether extending innings or failing to execute routine plays, have added unnecessary pressure on both the pitching staff and offense. Against any caliber of opponent, whether the team is a contender or not, those mistakes quickly become costly.
“You’ve got to play clean baseball,” Boone said after Monday night’s loss where the Yankees committed two errors and struck out 13 times as Detroit’s starter Casey Mize tossed seven innings of one hit ball with 10 Ks.
“Obviously we’ve got some guys down, and a little out of position maybe, so that factors in. But especially when we’re not swinging it like we’re going to typically, you got to take care of the ball, and we haven’t done a good enough job of that.”
The Yankees have allowed 14 unearned runs over their last 10 games and a lot of it has to do with fundamentals of the game not showing on the diamond – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
One example of the Yankees’ recent sloppy play was the fourth inning of Monday’s affair when Chisholm and Jasson Domínguez collided while attempting to track down a Hao-Yu Lee pop up in short right field. The 28-year-old second baseman was removed from the game after a brief moment of trainers attending to him and it was later announced by the Yankees that Chisholm is in concussion protocol.
“It was really unfortunate,” Domínguez said of the collision. “The infield was in, so as soon as Lee hit the ball, in my mind, I decided I had to go catch the ball. I called for the ball, but I didn’t call it loud enough. I wanted to make sure he was OK. After the game, I went to check on him.”
With Chisholm down for now, he joins Judge (fractured rib), Giancarlo Stanton (calf strain), Trent Grisham (hamstring strain) and Ryan McMahon (peritonsillar abscess), who are also on the shelf with injuries.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. (12 HRs in 2026 with 33 RBI and 24 stolen bases) was removed from Monday’s game vs. the Tigers after colliding with Jasson Domínguez in the fourth inning on a pop-up in short right field – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
The encouraging news is that the season is far from over with 78 games left before playoff baseball arrives. The Yankees remain firmly in the postseason picture, battling the Rays for the American League East division title (trailing Tampa Bay by 1.5 games for the lead) with the top spot of the AL Wild Card in their possession by six games.
And the return of Judge will eventually provide a significant boost. However, waiting for their captain cannot be the only solution.
“It’s part of it,” Boone noted. “We have to handle it, and guys have to step up.”
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