NEW YORK — One thought creeps into Yankees designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton’s mind every time that he notices his batting average on the scoreboard:
“Terrible.”
Right on.
His average is down to .188, Joey Gallo territory.
Stanton was no help again Wednesday night in a Yankees’ 6-1 loss to the Blue Jays. In four at-bats, he was 0-for-4 with a strikeout, leaving him 2-for-39 with 17 strikeouts in his last 11 games.
“I’m not putting the ball in play hard enough multiple times, Stanton said. “I’ve put some hard balls in play, but they’ve showed no results.”
Leading off the ninth with the Toronto leading 6-0, Stanton rocketed a 114.3-mph grounder right at third baseman Matt Chapman, who made the pick and threw to first for the out.
This was a rare good at-bat.
His first three, all against Blue Jays ace Kevin Gausman, were bad ones that stranded five baserunners.
In the first inning of a scoreless game, Stanton grounded out weakly to short with two on and two out.
With Toronto up 1-0 in third, Stanton had the same situation, two on with two down. This time, he popped out to first base.
The Yankees were still down just a run in the sixth when Austin Wells doubled with one out. With another opportunity to tie up the game with a hit, Stanton struck out looking.
Awful.
“I can’t produce like this (next year),” Stanton said. “It’s got to change.”
His production hasn’t been terrible. In 97 games, he has 24 homers in 399 plate appearances. That’s a 6 percent homer rate that matches his 2021 when he hit 35 homers in 139 at-bats.
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His 28.8 percent strikeout rate is high, but it’s dropped some from last season’s 30.3 percent.
Overall though, it’s been a dreadful season.
“There’s a lot of things I’ve got to work and adjust on,” Stanton said. “But if you guys think I’m just showing up and going out there and not working, then don’t know what to tell you.”
Randy Miller may be reached at
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