NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Instead of closing in on title No. 28, the New York Yankees are on the verge of getting swept in the for just the fourth time.
Aaron Judge again looked lost at the plate, starting pitching faltered for the second straight game and the Yankees dropped into a 3-0 Series deficit with to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday night.
In the quiet Yankees clubhouse, players insisted they could spark an improbable turnaround. No team has overcome a 3-0 World Series deficit.
鈥淎ll it takes is one,鈥� Judge said. 鈥淎ll it takes is one swing, one at-bat, one play, everything changes for us.鈥�
Judge is 1 for 12 (.083) with no RBIs and seven strikeouts in the Series and is hitting .140 with 20 strikeouts in this postseason.
鈥淚t鈥檚 definitely shocking," Yankees pitcher Nestor Cortes said. 鈥淥bviously, you鈥檙e talking about one of the best players in the world right now.鈥�
Judge is down to a .196 average with 15 homers, 31 RBIs and 86 strikeouts in his postseason career.
鈥淚鈥檓 not doing any good for the team,鈥� he said, 鈥渟o just got to step up, take my walks when I can, drive the baseball if I get something to hit.鈥�
New York has nine hits in the last two games, just three for extra bases, and struck out 11 times on Monday 鈥� four looking.
Its bottom four hitters are a combined 6 for 43 with three RBIs, including Alex Verdugo's two-run homer with two outs in the ninth off Michael Kopech. Yankees hitters are 4 for 20 with runners in scoring position.
鈥淚t stinks,鈥� Anthony Rizzo said of the Yankees' predicament. 鈥淚t's not going to be easy, for sure.鈥�
Even New York's bats are easy catches. When Anthony Volpe struck out against Daniel Hudson in the seventh inning, his lumber went flying over the Dodgers dugout. It hit the netting protecting fans in the prime seats, and LA field coordinator Bob Geren snagged the lumber off the rebound.
鈥淲e're playing kind of on the back foot a little bit,鈥� Verdugo said.
In the Yankees' first World Series home game since 2009, their best chance to rebound from an early deficit was when Giancarlo Stanton doubled in the fourth with the Dodgers ahead 3-0. Volpe hit a two-out single and Stanton was sent home by third base coach Luis Rojas. Teoscar Hern谩ndez made a perfect one-hop throw and Stanton, a slow runner, was tagged out by catcher Will Smith.
"In that situation, two outs, you gotta roll the dice on it," Stanton said.
New York resembles the team that went 10-23 from mid-June through late July, not the one that started 50-22 and rebounded to win the AL East and its 41st pennant. In a Series with relatively little offense, the Yankees have been outscored 14-7, outhit .213 to .186 and outhomered 5-3.
鈥淗opefully we can go be this amazing story and shock the world,鈥� Boone said. 鈥淏ut right now it鈥檚 about trying to get a lead, trying to grab a game, and force another one, and then on from there. But we鈥檝e got to grab one first.鈥�
Since winning the first two games of the 1981 Series at home against the Dodgers, the Yankees have lost seven in a row to Los Angeles in the Fall Classic.
One out from winning the opener 3-2 in 10 innings, the Yankees have been outscored 12-4 since in this Series. Carlos Rod贸n and Clarke Schmidt lasted six innings combined in Games 2 and 3.
Schmidt walked Shohei Ohtani on four pitches starting the game and Freddie Freeman followed with a two-run homer.
鈥淓nded up pulling the cutter across the zone,鈥� Schmidt said.
New York has been swept just three times in the World Series, by the 1922 New York Giants (including a tie game), the 1963 Dodgers and the 1976 Cincinnati Reds.
鈥淚f that team wins three in a row, then why can鈥檛 we win three in a row?鈥� Verdugo said.
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AP MLB:
Ronald Blum, The Associated Press