Yankees crushed by Tigers for fifth consecutive loss as ugly issues appear again
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What had been metaphorical became literal when Jasson Domínguez clotheslined Jazz Chisholm Jr. right out of the game.
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It was that kind of Monday for the Yankees, whose pain was self-inflicted during a contest in which the blaring speakers in The Bronx could have opted for Benny Hill.
The Yankees bungled far too many plays to compensate for an offense that has grown historically silent — held to three hits for a fourth straight game for the first time in franchise history — in what became a 7-3 loss to the Tigers for a fifth straight defeat and the eighth in 10 games.
There are myriad injuries that probably explain the struggles more accurately than a June swoon, but the recent issues defensively are not the fault of replacement players from Triple-A.
“That was a bad one,” said Cody Bellinger, whose dropped fly ball and 0-for-4 night added to the issues. “No sugarcoating that one.”
The defense was not the only issue: The offense totaled one hit in seven innings against Casey Mize before Amed Rosario stroked a three-run home run in the eighth to apply a bit of lipstick to this pig, virtually the only moment the 40,506 on hand could cheer.
There were plenty of moments to boo on an evening the Yankees (48-36) allowed five more unearned runs, making it 14 in their past five games.
Ryan Weathers turned in the shortest start of the Yankees’ season — 1 ²/₃ innings in which he allowed five runs (two earned) on seven hits and a walk — but the defense behind him (and in front of him, Austin Wells with a passed ball) helped ensure his day was brief.
“Just gave up a lot of singles, back-to-back,” said Weathers, who bemoaned not being able to put Tigers hitters away with two strikes. “Just couldn’t really stop the bleeding.”
Perhaps Weathers’ night would have been different if Anthony Volpe could have reached a ground ball from Spencer Torkelson that became an RBI single in the first.
Or if third baseman José Caballero had not thrown wildly to Paul Goldschmidt in the second, the first baseman unable to snowcone the ball for what would have been the inning’s second out.
Instead, a fly ball from Dillon Dingler became a sacrifice fly rather than the inning’s third out.
Two singles, a walk and three runs later, Weathers was gone and the bullpen merry-go-round began spinning.
An ugly, two-run fourth inning — in which Bellinger dropped a fly ball at the wall and Chisholm and Domínguez converged on a shallow fly ball, Chisholm smacking into Domínguez’s elbow, exiting the game and entering concussion protocol — all but sealed it.
“Couple really good defenders that didn’t complete plays today,” Aaron Boone said of the misplays that arose from generally reliable fielders.
The manager was less understanding of an offense that mustered one hit against Mize — a third-inning leadoff double from Spencer Jones, who would finish the inning on second — and has not totaled more than three hits in a contest since the opener in Boston (in which they scored just three runs).
There is no Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Trent Grisham or Ryan McMahon — the latter two expected back this week — and there is no one picking up the slack.
Ben Rice is 0-for-18 in his past five games.
“We’ve got to do a better job, obviously,” Boone said. “We’ve run up against some tough pitching for sure over these last several days, even going back to the Detroit series. But we’ve got to get some guys putting a little more pressure [on opposing teams].”
Several Yankees denied feeling extra pressure given who is not around.
But whatever the cause, both their offense and defense are in poorly timed slumps.
“Especially when we’re not swinging it like we’re going to typically, you got to take care of the ball,” Boone said, “and we haven’t done a good enough job of that.”