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Paul Goldschmidt’s bat has fluctuated, a line drive-hitting force in April and May who — along with much of the rest of the offense — sunk in June.
Baseball IQ does not slump, though.
The likely future Hall of Famer showed off his savvy and his glove in his own standout double play Sunday, one that complemented Cody Bellinger’s in the sweep-averting win over the Mets at Citi Field.
In the eighth inning of a game the Yankees led by two, and the Mets beginning a threat with a leadoff single from Ronny Mauricio, Brett Baty shot a ground ball at Goldschmidt.
He fielded, somehow snatching the 88.2 mph batted ball with his bare hand, and noticed Mauricio hanging by first base awaiting a throw to second.
Without a second thought, Goldschmidt shelved a potential throw and ran at Mauricio, whom he tagged and then stepped on the base for a quickly executed double play — the kind of heady play that the Yankees had missed during their skid.
“Just to slow the game down, a double play when he doesn’t panic on kind of a weird-hit ball to him, makes sure he secures it,” manager Aaron Boone said of Goldschmidt, who does just about everything right on the field but whom the Yankees brought in largely because of his bat.
He is not the MVP he was in 2022, but the Yankees also believed he was not the hitter who finished his Cardinals tenure with a .716 OPS last season.
After an excellent first two months this year, Goldschmidt went just 12-for-84 (.143) with a .464 OPS in 24 June games.
But Goldschmidt, who has done the bulk of his damage against southpaws this season, added his third multihit effort in four July games by picking up a couple of singles Sunday and has shown some hope of snapping out of the funk.
“I feel good,” Goldschmidt said. “You got to go out there and perform, so just try to have good at-bats. I’ve really felt good the whole year, but definitely this last month or five or six weeks I haven’t performed as well as I’m capable of.”
Goldschmidt’s glove helped out Tim Hill, who might be the most reliable member of a hurting bullpen.
After throwing 1 ¹/₃ scoreless innings Sunday, the lefty has allowed two earned runs in 19 innings since May 23.
Opposing hitters are batting .197 against him in the span.
