Despite not getting the desired results at times, the New York Yankees have felt encouraged by some of Giancarlo Stanton’s at-bats as of late.
The Yankees hope to get another productive showing from Stanton and the rest of their offense on Sunday when they host the Chicago Cubs before heading into the All-Star break.
The Yankees are 14-16 since losing Aaron Judge to a torn ligament in his right big toe on June 3 and have scored more than five runs seven times in that span.
The most recent instance was Saturday, when Stanton hit a 447-foot solo homer in the first inning off the facing of the upper deck in left field before poking a 322-foot homer down the right field line in the fifth to highlight a 6-3 win.
Those hits gave Stanton 10 RBIs over his past 11 games. Although he is hitting .208 overall and .174 (16-for-92) since returning from a hamstring injury on June 2, Stanton is 6-for-23 (.261) over his past seven games.
“He feels a sense of responsibility to be a wrecking ball,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of Stanton. “He takes a lot of pride in that and shoulders a lot of that. He expects a lot of himself and knows how important he is to the middle of the offense, and he takes that very serious.”
Stanton heads into Sunday coming off his first multi-homer game since May 12, 2022, against the White Sox in Chicago. He has not homered in consecutive games since April 1-2 against the San Francisco Giants.
“We love seeing him have success,” Yankee ace Gerrit Cole said. “He works so hard.”
The Cubs will try to keep Stanton in the ballpark after losing for the ninth time in 13 games. Former Yankee Mike Tauchman hit a two-run homer and Nico Hoerner had an RBI groundout, but Chicago finished with just five hits.
“Stanton is a massive human being,” Chicago starter Drew Smyly said after the Cubs dropped to 1-9 all-time in the regular season in the Bronx. “You feel like if you throw it in the strike zone, you are putting it on a tee.”
Kyle Hendricks (3-3, 2.64 ERA) will get the start for the Cubs in the series finale. He has allowed two earned runs or fewer in five of his eight starts this season.
Hendricks is winless in his past two outings after winning three straight starts from June 10-21. He most recently took a no-decision in Milwaukee after allowing two runs (one earned) on four hits in six innings on Tuesday.
Hendricks’ only previous start against the Yankees was a no-decision on May 5, 2017, in Chicago when he pitched 5 1/3 innings scoreless innings before New York rallied for a 3-2 win. Stanton is 0-for-6 against Hendricks in his career.
Domingo German (5-5, 4.52) will make his second start since pitching the fourth perfect game in Yankees franchise history on June 28 in Oakland. German heard plenty of cheers on Monday when he allowed three runs (two earned) on nine hits in 4 1/3 innings before the Yankees came back for a 6-3 win over the Baltimore Orioles.
German is facing the Cubs for the first time and is 4-4 with a 4.24 ERA in 17 career appearances (15 starts) against National League opponents.
–Field Level Media