Anthony Rizzo’s house run drought reaches 40 video games in rising Yankees concern

DENVER — The longest house run drought of Anthony Rizzo’s profession continues. 

After he had only a single in 4 at-bats Saturday night time within the Yankees’ 6-3 win over the Rockies at Coors Field, usually a breeding floor for the lengthy ball due to the excessive altitude, Rizzo has not homered since Might 20 — a stretch of 40 video games. 

He has gone 164 plate appearances throughout that stretch with out leaving the yard, a streak that was onerous to fathom from the Yankees’ veteran first baseman. 

“Baseball, it’s onerous, even for guys which might be actually good,” supervisor Aaron Boone mentioned earlier than the sport Saturday. 

Rizzo had a stretch of 46 video games and not using a house run from 2011 (his rookie season) to 2012, however that solely spanned 153 plate appearances. 

This season, Rizzo hit 11 house runs in his first 46 video games, by means of Might 20.

Eight days later, he collided with Fernando Tatis Jr. of the Padres on a pickoff at first base, which knocked him out for 3 video games with a stiff neck. 

Boone mentioned on Saturday that Rizzo’s neck is ok and that the 33-year-old was “in nearly as good a spot, bodily, in all probability as he’s been at any time since we’ve had him.” 

Since he sat out these three video games with the neck situation, although, Rizzo entered Saturday batting simply .171 with a .514 OPS in 32 video games.

His lack of manufacturing and thump have been felt even tougher as a result of the Yankees have been missing Aaron Judge for nearly all of that stretch. 

“I really feel like proper when he got here again from the neck, he had two weeks the place he actually struggled, the place he wasn’t swinging excellent,” Boone mentioned. “I do really feel just like the final three weeks or so, he’s been higher, the place he’s getting his hits just a little bit, he’s getting on base just a little bit. 

“But it surely’s not straightforward to hit the ball out of the ballpark or hit for energy. It may very well be even tougher if you go chasing. So the essential factor is give attention to the nice at-bats and that energy will come.”