Yankees' bats quiet again as club is swept by Marlins for first time in history
Yankees starting pitcher Luis Gil walks off the field as he is relieved in the fourth inning of a game against the Miami Marlins on Sunday in Miami. Credit: AP/Rebecca Blackwell
MIAMI — The Yankees still are the dumpster fire they were before Thursday’s trade deadline.
They stayed winless since adding four new players to the active roster on Friday and received a dud on Sunday afternoon from Luis Gil, making his season debut, as they fell to the Marlins, 7-3, in front of a sellout crowd of 34,601 at loanDepot park.
“It’s getting to be real gut-check time,” Aaron Boone said. “It’s getting late. It’s certainly not too late for us and I am confident that we’re going to get it together, but that’s all it is right now. It’s empty until we start doing it.”
The Yankees (60-52), who are 4 1/2 games behind the AL East-leading Blue Jays and 1 1/2 games behind the second-place Red Sox, were swept by Miami for the first time in Marlins history and have lost 27 of their last 45 games.
“I wouldn’t say there’s concern, but I would say I think a little sense of urgency would be good for us going forward,” Ben Rice said. “As we move deeper into the season here in this playoff race, we’re going to have to pick it up eventually.”
Before Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning, the Yankees had gone 4-for-47 and scored one run in the previous 15 innings. They wound up with six hits on Sunday after getting two on Saturday. The prolonged stretch of good baseball — or even passably decent baseball — that Boone has been promising for weeks has never appeared more unattainable.
The surging Rangers, closing fast on the Yankees in the American League wild-card chase, are next, starting Monday night in Arlington, Texas. The Rangers, who have one of the best pitching staffs in the majors, currently are outside the playoff picture but are only 2 1/2 games behind the Yankees, who own the second wild card, and two games behind the Mariners.
“We’re going into another tough opponent that’s playing well,” Boone said. “We’ve got to do it. We’ve got to find a way.”
After Trent Grisham led off the game with his 20th home run of the season, a 412-foot shot to centerfield, the Yankees managed only one more hit and a walk against Edward Cabrera (5-5, 3.24 ERA), who struck out seven in six innings.
“Ultimately, we’ve just got to play better. Personally, this series, I played like [expletive],” said Cody Bellinger, who went 0-for-4 to finish the three-game set 1-for-13. “For myself, I have to be better as well . . . I think everyone in this room, we have really high expectations and we’re not meeting them right now.”
Chisholm’s 423-foot two-run homer to center (No. 19) off lefthander Josh Simpson brought the Yankees within 6-3 in the seventh, but Jakob Marsee’s two-out RBI triple to center over Grisham’s head in the bottom of the inning made it 7-3.
Miami (55-55) has won six straight and 25 of its last 35.
Reigning American League Rookie of the Year Gil, who started the season on the injured list with a right lat strain, was not sharp from the start. The power pitcher generated little swing-and-miss and was gone after 3 1⁄3 innings. He was charged with five runs, allowed five hits and four walks and threw only 44 of his 77 pitches for strikes.
“No real command today,” Boone said.
Lefthander Brent Headrick replaced Gil with two on and one out in the fourth and promptly allowed a three-run homer by lefthanded-hitting Kyle Stowers to make it 6-1. Stowers had gone 76 at-bats and 87 plate appearances this season without a home run against a lefty. He has 25 homers overall and nine homers and 23 RBIs in his last 15 games.
“I feel confident in this group of guys, love this group of guys. I think we have a lot of talented baseball players in here,” Bellinger said. “We’ve just gotta play better . . . gotta look ourselves in the mirror, go to Texas and play baseball the way I know we can.”
Notes & quotes: Aaron Judge (right elbow flexor strain) took live batting practice late Sunday morning at the club’s minor-league complex in Tampa and will do the same on Monday. The intention is to activate Judge in time for Tuesday night’s game . . . The Yankees put reliever Jonathan Loaisiga on the IL with right mid-back tightness . . . Righthanded-hitting Austin Slater, one of seven new players brought in before the deadline, pinch hit for Jasson Dominguez against Simpson in the seventh. Slater, who had an .859 OPS with five home runs against lefties this season with the White Sox, struck out swinging in the seventh and struck out looking in the ninth against righty Lake Bachar.
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.
More Yankees headlines
