Giancarlo Stanton is so bad right now the Orioles walked Aaron Judge to face him
For the second time in six games, Giancarlo Stanton heard hearty boos at Yankee Stadium. While the first time was pretty brutal, the second time around was even worse for the slugger.
Stanton struggled mightily during the New York Yankees’ 8-7 extra innings loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday. The 28-year-old slugger went 0-for-7 with five strikeouts during the contest.
[Still not too late to join a Yahoo Fantasy Baseball league]
If that wasn’t bad enough, Stanton’s day got worse. In the 10th inning, the Orioles actually walked Aaron Judge with the game-winning run on second to face Stanton. It might be the first time ever that a team has walked another player to face Stanton.
With two outs in the inning, the Orioles could have opted to walk Stanton to face Neil Walker, but they didn’t. They went after Stanton, and it worked out. He grounded into a force out on the first pitch he saw from Richard Bleier.
Stanton had a chance to redeem himself in the bottom of the 12th inning. Instead, he picked up his fifth and final strikeout, ending the game and inviting more boos from Yankees fans.
Though the fans have been harsh, Stanton isn’t blaming them.
Stanton on the booing following his strikeouts: "They're not going to cheer for that, so what do you expect?"
— Erik Boland (@eboland11) April 8, 2018
It was the second time this season Stanton has struck out five times without picking up a hit. That’s the first time that has happened since the live-ball era began around 1920.
Per the folks @ESPNStatsInfo, Giancarlo Stanton is the first player in the live-ball era to have no hits and five strikeouts in two games in the same season.
— Coley Harvey (@ColeyHarvey) April 8, 2018
It’s been a tough start for Stanton. After Sunday’s game, he’s now hitting .167, with 20 strikeouts in 48 plate appearances. It’s not all bad, as Stanton has three home runs. Still, this is not the type of start he was hoping for with his new club.
Unfortunately for Yankees fans, that’s kind of how Stanton operates. He has immense power, but it comes at the cost of some high strikeout totals. When he slumps, things can get ugly. It’s safe to say that’s happening right now.
Yankees fans can be … demanding … so it might be a rough stretch for Stanton until he turns things around. Once he does, we imagine Yankees fans will quickly change their tune.
– – – – – – –
Chris Cwik is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik
More from Yahoo Sports:
• McCutchen’s big day lifts Giants over Dodgers
• Hosmer’s big error gives Houston walk-off win
• Marlins give up 20 runs in blowout loss
• Bauer blasts new pace-of-play rules
