Aaron Judge reacts to Yankees' offensive woes

All-Star slugger Aaron Judge has become the latest person to address the offensive woes that continue to hover over the New York Yankees this spring. 

"In the box," Judge said about where the Yankees lost Thursday's 8-2 defeat against the first-place Tampa Bay Rays, per Ryan Chichester of Audacy. "We got a couple pitches to hit there throughout the game, but you have to tip your cap on some of those. (Tampa Bay starter Drew Rasmussen) made his pitches when he had to, kind of kept us off-balanced the whole time he was out there. We gotta come up with a better game plan in the box and execute it." 

The last-place Yankees have now lost three of four to the Rays since last weekend and began Friday trailing Tampa Bay by nine games in the American League East standings. Meanwhile, ESPN stats show the Yankees ended Thursday's MLB action ranked 24th overall with a .232 team batting average and 18th with a .705 OPS. 

The banged-up Yankees are still missing multiple contributors and just recently got Judge back in the lineup following a stint on the injured list due to a right hip strain. Judge hasn't necessarily hit like the reigning AL Most Valuable Player when available, though, as he is batting .262 with six home runs and 16 RBI across 29 games this season. 

Judge went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts on Thursday. 

"He’s got quality pitches," Judge added about Rasmussen. "He’s not a one or two pitch guy…for us, it’s just about when we get our pitches in the zone, we can’t miss it, foul it off or hit it into the ground. We gotta do damage and get on base." 

If nothing else, Thursday may have reminded Yankees fans that the team's midweek sweep over the pitiful Oakland Athletics was merely a blip on the radar and proof of just how lame the Athletics are in the middle of May. As for the Bronx Bombers, they'll look to pick up the latest game they lost in the standings when they host the Rays on Friday night.