Yanks know 'we need to be better than this' right now

ARLINGTON -- Aaron Judge dismissed any notion that the Yankees¡¯ confidence has dipped as the team¡¯s disappointing stretch continued in Texas this week.

The Yankees dropped a third straight series to a team on the outside of the playoff picture, falling 10-6 to the Rangers on Wednesday night in the series finale at Globe Life Field. It marked the sixth defeat in the last eight games for the Yankees, as they¡¯ve now lost consecutive series to the Nationals, Cardinals, and Rangers.

"A couple of back-and-forth games, a couple of games not going our way, stuff like that is going to happen,¡± Judge said. ¡°We¡¯re not happy about it. We¡¯re fighting for a division, fighting for a lot right now. But we¡¯ve got to keep trusting in each other and things are going to go our way."

Asked if there had been a dip in confidence, Judge said: "Not at all. Not at all. We¡¯ve still got a long month ahead of us, a big series coming up here in Chicago. That¡¯s all you can really do is look forward. You can¡¯t sit and look back at past games, 'cause those will just keep building, so it¡¯s just about moving forward."

Judge¡¯s message was echoed throughout the clubhouse. The team is not getting too caught up in being sub-.500 since the start of play on June 1 (40-41), or facing other challenges such as going with a closer-by-committee approach entering the stretch run.

"We trust each other here,¡± outfielder Alex Verdugo said. ¡°We know what we can do when we¡¯re all clicking and doing the things that we need to do. Really, there¡¯s no reason to panic. We¡¯ve been in this tight AL race all year long. It¡¯s just a couple of series, we¡¯re right there.¡±

The Yankees are still just a half-game behind the Orioles in the AL East, after Baltimore fell to the White Sox on Wednesday.

The Yankees, meanwhile, found themselves in an early hole Wednesday as starter Marcus Stroman struggled, allowing five earned runs on nine hits over 3 2/3 innings.

Stroman had been riding high going into the game, posting a 3-0 record with a 2.35 ERA over his previous four starts, but didn¡¯t make it out of the fourth inning.

"Just don¡¯t think I executed when I needed to,¡± Stroman said. ¡°Got in some long counts and they were able to put the barrel on balls.¡±

The bullpen didn¡¯t fare much better, as the Rangers scored three runs in the sixth -- all of which were charged to Tim Mayza -- and two more in the seventh off Ron Marinaccio.

Offensively, Juan Soto produced the Yankees¡¯ first two runs with a two-run home run off Rangers starter Nathan Eovaldi in the fifth inning -- Soto's first long ball since Aug. 25. Eovaldi worked out of trouble the rest of his night, finishing with six strikeouts over seven innings.

The Yankees showed life late in the game. Trent Grisham belted a grand slam off the right-field foul pole in the ninth before Duke Ellis notched his first hit in the Majors with a single to left.

But the deficit proved simply too much to overcome, as the Rangers turned to closer Kirby Yates for the final out. Giancarlo Stanton smoked a 103.9 mph liner to left field, but Wyatt Langford made the catch at the wall to quash the rally and end the game.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone liked seeing the fight his team showed at the end, saying: ¡°Love the fact that nobody mails it in. Keep playing until the end. I appreciate that about this group."

However, Boone made it clear that the Yankees have to play better than they are right now if they want to reach their goals. With 22 games left, the clock is ticking.

"We¡¯ve got to play better than we are right now. We¡¯ve lost a few series here in a row that we¡¯ve had chances to win all three of them,¡± Boone said. ¡°Obviously, we could have had a couple here. We know we¡¯ve got to be better than this if we want to get to where we want to go. Hopefully catch our breath a little bit and rest up a little bit on an off-day. But we¡¯ve got to get after it at Wrigley. I expect us to. We need to be better than this.¡±