Judge returns for Yankees, but can't stop the skid

Aaron Judge's highly anticipated return from the 10-day injured list did not go the way the New York Yankees hoped it would, as their abysmal run of results continued with a limp 2-0 loss in the middle game of a three-game series against the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night.

Judge was back in the lineup as the designated hitter following a nearly two-week layoff with a flexor tendon strain in his right elbow, and it was hoped that seeing him back in the rotation, batting third, would inspire the struggling Yanks to overturn a 4-6 run they've been on since the All-Star slugger stood down.

The anticipated jolt didn't materialize, as Rangers ace Nathan Eovaldi sat down 24 of the 25 batters he faced across eight scoreless innings, allowing only one hit.

It was very much a case of poor timing for Judge, who returned to face one of the season's most dominant pitchers, leading the American League with a 1.38 ERA, and also seemed to be struggling for rhythm at the plate, going 0-for-3 and striking out twice.

Following the game, the Yankee captain told the reporters in the Rangers clubhouse that he felt "physically great", but lamented the result, heaping praise on Eovaldi's pitching. "He kept us off the bases and we just couldn't get anything going against him," Judge said.

When asked about the challenge facing the ailing Yankees, he responded: "We've got a lot of work to do. There's a lot of things to clean up.

"You never want the skids to go longer than a week or two, you're gonna go through some tough times, every team does, but, you know, it's about us here in this room.

"We've got to take care of this. It starts with each individual; we've got to look ourselves in the mirror and say: 'hey, I gotta step up, I gotta be better. Enough is enough'.

"The boys here are fired up to change all that and make things right.

"There are a lot of mistakes all around, some mental, some physical, and we've got to fix them and we've got to fix them now."

There's also still no clarity on when the reigning AL MVP will return to the outfield. Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Judge is supposed to start a throwing program Wednesday, but he all but ruled out Judge returning to the outfield this week.

"I don't want to get ahead of myself," Boone said. "See how that first day goes. From there, we'll probably have a better idea after a day or two of that."

Judge, too, was pragmatic, telling the reporters gathered at his locker: "I've no idea, but we'll see how it goes tomorrow, and, hopefully, I can get out there, because we need all of the big boys in the lineup."

Boone said Judge came away from a trip to the team's spring training facility in Tampa, Florida, "pretty upbeat about it".

"I think down in Tampa, he did a lot of things. Didn't throw, but did a lot of things in kind of preparation for that throwing. So far, so good. So, hopefully, when he does start that throwing program, it goes well and he can progress fairly quickly."