Red Sox outlast Yankees: 3 things you missed from crazy Friday game

Yankees: Aaron Judge isn’t helping the cause right now

Given that the Stanton homer and the wild bunt-error combination to tie it up in the final frame, the Yankees offense was a bit pedestrian on Friday night. And it’s hard not to notice Aaron Judge’s part in that. He finished the game going just 0-for-5 with two strikeouts (even if there were some questionable called strikes involved in that).

What’s going a bit overlooked because of his runaway early MVP candidacy, though, is that Judge has been downright bad by his standards as of late. With the volatility of the Yankees offense as a whole, that’s a problem.

Through 12 appearances and 10 starts in July now, Judge is slashing a meager .200/.308/.400 with an OPS+ just below 100 for the month. He also has just two home runs in 52 plate appearances along with 17 strikeouts already.

Perhaps the break is exactly what Judge needs to get right but, over the first half of July, he’s looked less like an MVP candidate and more like another Yankee bat that is a bit too volatile for fans’ liking.

Red Sox: Pitching staff getting healthy is crucial

Earlier on Friday, Boston activated both Nathan Eovaldi and Garrett Whitlock off the IL and both saw the mound at Yankee Stadium in the contest. The former got the start and, aside from Giancarlo Stanton taking him yard into the home run alley known as right field in the Bronx, he pitched well over 4.1 innings. His return to the rotation, along with Chris Sale returning, means a smaller reliance on rookies who have been hot-and-cold as a collective (and really cold at some points).

Whitlock’s return, however, might be even bigger. Most importantly, the fact that he returned in a bullpen role rather than as a starter as he was earlier in the season before his IL stint. Coming in for the sixth and seventh, Whitlock tossed a perfect two innings with three strikeouts to his credit.

He rose to prominence in Boston immediately last season with similar relief outings but was much more inconsistent in a starting role. Given the struggles of the Red Sox bullpen, being able to return him to that role is a monumentally important addition. It will put less pressure on guys like John Schreiber to be basically the only reliable arm before Tanner Houck closes and truly give this club a boost it sorely needs.