Cody Bellinger showed up at Tropicana Field early Tuesday with a simple mission: get in extra work and shake off a slump. By night’s end, the Yankees were left with a 6-4 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays, another quiet offensive showing from Bellinger, and one mistake on the bases that cut down a rally at exactly the wrong moment.
The play came after Rays starter Ian Seymour exited. Ryan McMahon singled, Bellinger followed with a sharp single to right field, and New York had two on with a chance to build something.
Instead, the inning stalled in a hurry. Bellinger saw a high throw headed toward third, hesitated, and then took too wide a turn around first base.
Junior Caminero was ready for it and threw him out, turning a promising moment into another wasted opportunity for a lineup that badly needs one.
Bellinger didn’t try to soften it afterward.
“That was a bad mistake and really unacceptable,” Bellinger said.
He also explained exactly how it happened.
“I wasn’t committed right away, so I took two steps,” Bellinger said, adding that by then it was too late.
That baserunning lapse would have stood out on its own. But it landed in the middle of a much bigger problem.
With Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton out, the Yankees have been counting on Bellinger to help steady the offense. Instead, he’s in the middle of a deep slide, and the numbers keep getting worse.
Over his past 18 games, Bellinger is 8-for-66, a stretch that goes back to his last home run. He hasn’t homered in July after hitting three in June. Entering Tuesday, he was batting .121 with one RBI over his previous 16 games, and during that span the Yankees went 4-12 and slipped out of first place in the AL East.
The season line still looks solid on paper. Bellinger is hitting .248/.344/.421 with a .765 OPS and 11 home runs in 88 games, production that ranks among the better marks on the roster. But the recent trend is hard to miss, especially when stacked against last season, when he posted a .814 OPS with 29 homers.
That’s what makes this stretch so uncomfortable for the Yankees. Bellinger isn’t just another bat.
He’s the club’s All-Star representative, one of the marquee additions from the winter, and the player they paid to help carry the load when Judge is unavailable. In January, he signed a five-year, $162.5 million contract, and nights like this are exactly the kind of test that kind of deal brings with it.
The scrutiny has already started to sharpen. The Athletic’s Chad Jennings wrote that the Yankees have been awful lately and said the recent slide “is Bellinger.”
Bellinger has lived through ugly stretches before, from his MVP peak to the steep drop-off that followed in Los Angeles, so he knows the road back won’t be instant. After the loss, he kept his tone steady, credited Seymour’s tough outing, and said the team can still respond over the rest of the series.
For now, though, the Yankees are three games behind the Rays in the AL East, still missing two stars and still waiting for the one healthy veteran they need most to look like himself again. Until Bellinger breaks out of it, the pressure on him isn’t going anywhere.
In Other News...
Yankees Suddenly Linked To The Deadline Move Fans Have Been Demanding
The Yankees recent slide has only sharpened the conversation around what they might need before the 2026 trade deadline, and the urgency is hard to miss. After going 1-9 in their last 10 games and sitting at 49-40 through 89 games, New York has been pushed into a spot where one more move could matter a lot, especially with roughly a month left before the deadline and the pressure building to stabilize a season that has started to wobble.
One name now surfacing in that broader discussion is Sandy Alcantara, a pitcher with the kind of track record that naturally draws attention when a contender is looking for help. The appeal is obvious for a Yankees club trying to shore up its pitching mix, but any serious pursuit would have to account for the recent injury questions that have followed him, which makes this the kind of deadline idea that feels both tempting and complicated at the same time. [Read more 🡒]
Anthony Volpe Rumor Just Put Yankees Fans In A Tough Spot
Spencer Jones being sent down on July 4 was one of those roster moves that made sense on the surface, especially with Carlos Rodn injured and the Yankees needing a spot starter. But it also landed in the middle of a bigger conversation about how the club is juggling its infield, with Anthony Volpes role continuing to draw scrutiny as the shortstop picture refuses to settle down.
The noise around Volpe has only added to the uncertainty, because any hint that the Yankees might need to rethink the position changes how the rest of the roster is viewed. With George Lombard Jr. getting closer to the major-league picture and the possibility of more roster movement still hanging over the team, the Yankees are left weighing not just who can play shortstop now, but who fits best when the next round of decisions arrives. [Read more 🡒]
Will Warren Has Become A Real Yankees Rotation Concern
Will Warrens season has taken a sharp turn in recent weeks, and the Yankees have felt it in the standings and in the rotation. After a strong first seven starts, the right-hander has stumbled badly over his last 11 outings, carrying a 5.34 ERA through that stretch and repeatedly putting the club in early trouble.
The bigger concern for New York is how quickly the outings have shortened. Warren has not finished six innings since May 31, and he has already acknowledged that he is having trouble executing pitches the way he needs to. For a Yankees staff trying to stay afloat, that leaves a young arm with more questions than answers at a point in the season when stability matters most. [Read more 🡒]