Yankees' lost weekend continues as they're swept by Tigers
New York Yankees' Miguel Andujar walks to the dugout after striking out during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers, Sunday, May 30, 2021, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio) Credit: AP/Carlos Osorio
DETROIT — The two biggest obstacles to the Yankees getting on any kind of sustained run of consistency swirled together Sunday afternoon in one of their ugliest losses of the season.
Yet another afternoon of offensive futility combined with more slapdash defense — and a pinch of poor baserunning — were the primary ingredients in an embarrassing 6-2 loss to the Tigers in front of 8,000 at Comerica Park that completed an equally embarrassing three-game sweep.
It was not the way the Yankees (29-24), who have lost five of six after a 22-8 run, wanted to head into a critical week at home in which they will face the AL East-leading Rays for four and the second-place Red Sox for three.
"We had a bad weekend," said Aaron Boone, whose team was held to two or fewer runs for the eighth time in its last 11 games. "[But] as [ticked] off as I am, and as we should be by the way we played, it's a bad weekend. We need to turn the page. We have an important homestand coming up against some really good opponents."
Boone said the current roster is "absolutely good enough" for a turnaround.
"We need to figure it out and find a way to play cleaner baseball more consistently, because we're about to go up against some really good teams," he said.
The Yankees, who struck out 36 times, went 2-for-25 with runners in scoring position and stranded 28 in the three games, made it 6-1 on Gleyber Torres’ two-out RBI single in the eighth. Gary Sanchez’s RBI infield single then brought the Yankees within 6-2, but when shortstop Zack Short’s low throw skipped past first, Sanchez was easily thrown out at second to end the inning.
That was the Yankees' 26th runner thrown out on the bases this season, the most in the majors.
"That’s a mental error in that spot," Boone said.
Sanchez said he saw the errant throw and was trying to be "aggressive."
"It ended up not being a good decision," he said through his interpreter.
Singles by Miguel Andujar and Clint Frazier put runners at first and third with none out against Michael Fulmer in the ninth. After a strikeout and a foul pop, a four-pitch walk to Giancarlo Stanton loaded the bases and brought the tying run to the plate, but Aaron Judge — the Yankees' hottest hitter of late — struck out looking.
"You have to step up in those situations," Judge said of not coming through in the ninth or, for that matter, the first, when he hit into a 5-4-3 double play after DJ LeMahieu and Stanton reached to start the game.
That was similar to Saturday's game, in which the Yankees loaded the bases with none out in the second and Andujar grounded into a double play to doom the rally.
Of the offense, Judge said: "What we've been putting out there right now is not our best, and it's unacceptable. That's where we just have to kind of dig down deeper and make some changes. You just can't keep coming to the plate trying to do the same thing and expecting different results. I think it's just about us collectively just doing our homework."
Tigers lefthander Tarik Skubal became the latest pitcher to enter a game against the Yankees with subpar numbers and look like a Cy Young Award candidate.
Skubal, who entered 1-7 with a 5.23 ERA, allowed three hits in six scoreless innings in which he walked three and struck out eight.
Michael King, among those auditioning to take the majority of rotation turns in injured Corey Kluber’s absence, was not sharp and wasn’t helped by his defense.
On a pitch count of roughly 60, King allowed four runs (two earned), three hits and two walks in 2 1/3 innings in which he threw 63 pitches.
Nomar Mazara had a two-run double with two outs in the first and Willi Castro added a three-run double in a four-run third for the Tigers, who entered the series with a 19-31 record. All three of the Yankees' errors — two by shortstop Gleyber Torres and one by third baseman Gio Urshela — came in the third, with Urshela and Torres committing their miscues on consecutive plays to set up Castro's game-breaking hit.
"Just a bad ending," Boone said of the game overall, "to a terrible weekend."
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.
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