Yankees’ skid hits seven as offensive woes continue in painful extra-inning loss to Tigers

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The Bronx felt like it Wednesday afternoon, too, as an announced crowd of 37,117 sorry souls sat in suffocating 95-degree heat to watch the same lifeless offense for eight innings, then get some hope, only to still leave miserable by the end of the day.

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After the Yankees came back to tie the game in the ninth, they wasted chances to win it in the ninth and 10th innings before Camilo Doval unraveled in the 11th, resulting in an even more excruciating seventh straight loss, 6-2 to the Tigers.

“F–king sucks,” Cody Bellinger, who is 1-for-23 with two walks during the losing streak, said of going through a slump both individually and as a team. “It’s a s—ty feeling. You want to contribute. When you’re not succeeding, it’s very frustrating. Just got to continue to work on it and grind it out.”

On a day that began with Aaron Judge saying the Yankees had a “lack of focus” during this skid, Doval entered for the 11th and got two quick outs on a pair of ground balls. The Yankees then intentionally walked Riley Greene to bring up the right-handed-hitting Hao-Yu Lee. Greene stole second as Doval got ahead 0-2 on Lee, then proceeded to walk him and Spencer Torkelson to put the Tigers ahead 3-2.

Zach McKinstry came up next and roped a two-run single through the right side. Another run scored on the play when Ali Sánchez, after catching the throw home that was too late, sailed a throw to second base that went into center field, capping off a four-run rally.

The Yankees (48-38) then went in order in the bottom of the 11th against Keider Montero, drawing boos from whatever fans were still left after subjecting themselves to 2 hours and 59 minutes of torture.

Tied for their second-longest losing streak during Aaron Boone’s tenure — trailing only a nine-game skid in August 2023 — the Yankees have suddenly gone from leading the AL East to falling five games back of the Rays in the loss column, entering Tampa Bay’s Wednesday night game.

“It’s been a terrible week for us,” Boone said. “There’s no way of sugarcoating it. We’re capable of way more, obviously. Look, you’re going to have stretches where it’s tough, where you’re missing some guys. But this was a really difficult week for us offensively, coupled with that not playing clean enough and taking care of the ball well enough. That’s what you get, you get an awful week.”

Aside from injuries to Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Max Fried, Trent Grisham and Ryan McMahon, the Yankees on Wednesday were dealing with a case of food poisoning that forced Boone to rearrange the lineup and limited him somewhat late.

After the Yankees had come back to tie the game in the ninth on Amed Rosario’s home run and Jazz Chisholm Jr. singling, stealing second and third and scoring on a wild pitch, they had a prime chance to win it in the 10th.

José Caballero led off with a sacrifice bunt to move the automatic runner to third before Oswaldo Cabrera — with Paul Goldschmidt on the bench — hit for himself and struck out. The Tigers then intentionally walked Ben Rice to bring up Sánchez (he had entered as a defensive replacement in the ninth after Spencer Jones pinch hit for Austin Wells), who struck out to end the threat.

Goldschmidt was available to pinch hit, but with Max Schuemann (the last man on the bench) unavailable due to illness, Boone said he did not want to risk having to play him at second or third base if the game had gotten to the 11th. The Yankees also could have forfeited the DH and had Rosario play third, but opted to stick with Cabrera.

All of it made for an even more brutal loss, similar to the extra-inning heartbreak they had on Sunday in Boston, when they came back from a 2-0 deficit in the ninth inning and went ahead 4-2 in the 10th before falling 5-4 to the Red Sox in their fourth straight loss.

On Wednesday, they were dominated by another starting pitcher — this time right-hander Troy Melton, who allowed just two hits and one walk across 6 ¹/₃ shutout innings.

During the seven-game skid, opposing starters have now combined to pitch 46 innings against the Yankees, allowing just five runs (four earned) on 14 hits and seven walks while striking out 54.

“It sucks,” Chisholm said. “Every loss sucks. Ain’t no loss better than the next.”