Yankees show little life at the plate in loss to Tigers

DETROIT — DJ LeMahieu’s pregame synopsis of the Yankees’ offense likely spoke for a large segment of the team’s fan base."I think we're all still waiting for that breakout series offensively, [that] breakout week," LeMahieu said Saturday. "I know we’ll all be clicking here [eventually]."

Maybe next series. Maybe next week.

Not this series. Certainly not this week.

Laying a second straight egg against the AL Central cellar-dwelling Tigers, the Yankees went quietly Saturday afternoon, 6-1, in front of 8,000 at Comerica Park.

"Bottom line is we’ve got to be better, we’ve got to get better if we're going to be the team we expect to be," Aaron Boone said. "A lot of that [expectation] is built around what we expect to be offensively, and there’s no question that has to improve."

After going 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position and stranding 12 in Friday’s 3-2 loss in 10 innings, the Yankees (29-23), who have scored two or fewer runs in seven of their last 10 games, didn’t give themselves nearly as many opportunities Saturday. They had three hits, went 0-for-4 with RISP and stranded six in losing for the fourth time in the last five games.

"We do have different sorts of lineups each and every day," Boone said of potentially shaking things up. "But if we're going to be the club we expect to be, we need to get the guys that we expect to carry a lot of the load offensively to really get going."

Another day of those players mostly not doing that overshadowed Deivi Garcia's poor outing in a potential audition to take over in the rotation for the injured Corey Kluber.

The 22-year-old Garcia, making his second start of the season, allowed five runs (four earned) and five hits in 4 1/3 innings. He walked one, struck out three and was optioned back to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre afterward.

"It was a grind for me today," Garcia said through his interpreter. "I'm usually much more consistent with my pitches in a game and today that wasn't the case, and that led to the kind of outing I had today where it was a grind and a fight."

Tigers righty Spencer Turnbull, who threw a no-hitter against Seattle the night before Kluber's no-hitter against Texas, allowed one run and three hits in 5 2/3 innings.

The Yankees took the early lead but blew an opportunity to do even more damage.

In the second inning, Gleyber Torres worked a leadoff walk, Gary Sanchez flared a single to right and Mike Ford walked to load the bases with none out. The Yankees took a 1-0 lead when Miguel Andujar grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, but that would be all for the inning and the game. The Yankees have grounded into 50 double plays, most in the majors.

Garcia hit Jonathan Schoop with a 2-and-1 changeup to start the bottom of the inning and Nomar Mazara followed with a flared single to center. After getting routine flyouts from Eric Haase and Niko Goodrum, Garcia walked Akil Baddoo to load the bases. No. 9 hitter Willi Castro hit a sharp grounder to the right of second baseman Rougned Odor for a run-scoring infield hit, and when Odor made a very wide throw to first on the play, the Tigers led 2-1.

In the fourth, Haase fell behind 1-and-2 before roping a 92-mph fastball into the gap in left-center for a triple. Goodrum’s sacrifice fly to deep center made it 3-1.

In the fifth, doubles by Castro and Jeimer Candelario made it 4-1. That was all for Garcia, who was replaced by Albert Abreu. A wild pitch and Miguel Cabrera's sacrifice fly to center produced another run, and Schoop launched a 1-and-1 slider to left for his fifth homer and a 6-1 lead.

Given the way Turnbull was pitching – retiring 10 straight after a second-inning walk to Clint Frazier – and the Yankees’ offense of the last week, it was all but over.

"I believe it will improve, but we’ve got to continue to work and make sure we're making the necessary adjustments each and every day to get to that point," Boone said. "But if we're going to be the club we expect to be, we've got to improve."

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.