The New York Yankees have once again lost their lead, facing a frustrating four-game losing streak.

The Yankees' downward spiral makes the return of captain Aaron Judge increasingly urgent. Today, during their game against the Texas Rangers, they lost their lead in the ninth inning, ultimately falling 5-8, marking their fourth consecutive loss, with a palpable sense of self-defeat nearly erupting in the Yankees' locker room.

When asked whether the Yankees' recent slump (losing 12 of their last 19 games) is starting to affect them, head coach Aaron Boone responded without hesitation:

“Yes,” Boone said. “But it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter… We have to win, that’s all there is to it. We know that. No one cares how much pressure there is. It’s all just noise, excuses, whatever.”

The good news is that hope is on the horizon—Boone confirmed today that Judge, the most productive hitter in baseball, who leads the league in batting average (0.342), on-base percentage (0.449), and slugging percentage (0.711), will return from the injured list tomorrow.

However, this does little to comfort the beleaguered Yankees' locker room, especially after they allowed Joc Pederson and Josh Jung, who have struggled at the plate this season, to hit game-tying and winning home runs in the ninth and tenth innings, respectively.

Before Jung's decisive hit, Yankees' leadoff man Paul Goldschmidt had given the team a lead with his first swing of the bat, hitting a home run. In the fourth inning, when Giancarlo Stanton launched a massive 427-foot home run to center field, Goldschmidt crossed home plate, just one triple shy of hitting for the cycle.

The Yankees entered the ninth inning with a 5-4 lead and brought in closer Devin Williams, who had a 7.50 ERA in his previous six appearances, allowing five earned runs over six innings. Pederson, who had a mere 0.126 batting average in his 169 at-bats prior to this season, came off the bench in the ninth and hit a high changeup from Williams into the right-field stands to tie the game.

“I was trying to keep the ball low and away, but I left it over the plate—clearly, he did what he was supposed to do,” Williams said. “In this game and the last one, what really hurt me was one pitch. But that’s sometimes the difference between winning and losing, and I can’t let that happen.”

After the Yankees failed to score in the top of the tenth, Jung delivered a three-run homer that broke their backs. This home run was thrown by Jake Bird, who took over pitching duties for Williams after the ninth inning.

The Yankees (60 wins, 53 losses) saw their lead for the last AL wild card spot shrink to 1.5 games yesterday. They currently trail the Blue Jays by 5.5 games in the AL East and are 2.5 games behind the surging Red Sox, with 49 games remaining this season.

“The season is rapidly shortening,” Boone said. “So there’s no time for excuses and feeling sorry for ourselves. I know everyone feels terrible, but we have to fight. We haven’t been able to do that on this road trip, but we need to do better.”

Despite Goldschmidt’s breakout performance, the Yankees still lost. Goldschmidt hit a home run to open the scoring, a double in the second inning, and a single in the fourth; he contributed three of the team's five runs. He had been hitting just 0.083 (2 hits in 24 at-bats) over the past nine games, but excelled in his first game back at leadoff since July 2.

“He’s been working hard for this—hopefully, this can be a foundation,” Boone said.

Starting pitcher Max Fried battled through five innings for the Yankees, often struggling as he issued three walks and allowed eight scattered hits. He gave up four runs on five hits in the second inning, most of which were ground ball hits, while striking out seven.

“They came up swinging and strung together some hits, and at the end of the day, I didn’t do a good enough job limiting them and getting us out of that situation,” Fried said. “That put us behind, especially after scoring early and taking the lead… It’s definitely very frustrating.”

The last frustrating moment for the Yankees: left fielder Austin Slater, acquired from the White Sox before the trade deadline, injured his left hamstring trying to beat a force out while leaving the batter’s box. Slater has only played his third game since being traded on July 30 and is expected to go on the 10-day injured list tomorrow. He said after today’s game that he will undergo an MRI, and it’s “too early to say how serious the injury is.”

“Honestly, I feel really crushed,” Slater said. “Especially on a night when I felt I could have helped the team in multiple ways. This is definitely not the way I wanted to start my tenure here. But now the goal is to get back to health as soon as possible.”