The Yankees are now on a 7-game losing streak
The Yankees lost 8–1 on Saturday afternoon to the Boston Red Sox to extend their losing streak to seven games. They have only scored seven runs in their last five games.
According to the AP, the 7-game losing streak is the longest losing streak for the Yankees since September 4–10 of the 2021 season. The Yankees are now 60–63. They are three games under .500 this late in the season for the first time since they were 56–59 on August 30, 1995. The Yankees lost in the ALDS 3–2 to the Seattle Mariners in heartbreaking fashion, but it is highly unlikely that the Yankees will make the playoffs this season since after going just 2–10 in their last 12 games, the Yankees have just a 1.0 percent chance of making the playoffs.
Since the Yankees tied their season-high of 11 games above .500 at 36–25 on June 4th (the day after Judge ran into the wall at Dodger Stadium), the Yankees are 24–38 and have been outscored by 68 runs, including 19–37 against teams other than the A’s and Royals while being outscored by 91 runs. The Yankees have gone 8–1 in their nine games against the Royals and Athletics, who are by far the two worst teams in the American League, but they have struggled against all other teams since Judge ran into the wall.
The Yankees offense has really been struggling. They have scored three runs or 13 times in their last 21 games. In their last 11 games, they have scored three runs or less eight different times. In their last four games (four out of the seven games of the losing streak), when the Yankees have combined to score four runs, they Yankees have failed to even get a runner to third base in three of those four games.
The Yankees did not get a runner in scoring position in the loss on Saturday, they were 0–6 with runners in scoring position in the 8–3 loss to the Red Sox on Friday, they were 0–4 with runners in scoring position in the loss to the Braves on Wednesday before their off day on Thursday and they were 0–1 with runners in scoring position in their 5–0 loss to the Braves on Tuesday. This means that in their last four games the Yankees have just had 11 runners in scoring position and have gone 0–11 in those 11 at-bats.
In Saturday’s game, Luis Urias went 1–3 with a grand slam. With his grand slam off of Gerrit Cole in the second inning, he became the first Red Sox player to hit a grand slam on consecutive pitches. Urias become the first Red Sox player in 80 years to hit a grand slam in consecutive games in leading Boston to an 8–1 victory.
Urias cleared the bases in his last at bat against Washington reliever Robert Garcia on Thursday night and the ninth-place hitter stunned Cole in the second inning with a blast to left center. He is the first Red Sox player to hit a grand slam since Hall of Famer Jimmie Foxx on May 20–21 in 1940. He also is the first player in the majors to hit grand slams in consecutive trips to the plate since Josh Willingham with Washington in 2009.
Urias, who was acquired at the trade deadline from the Brewers, this season has been light hitting and not known for his power. He has a .186 average in 30 games this season and eight of his 14 RBI this season have come in these two grand slams. Last season he had a just above league average 109 OPS+ in 119 games and in his six seasons he has a just below league average 98 OPS+.
Cole had a rare start this season when he did not pitch like an ace. He was the leading candidate to win the AL Cy Young coming into this start against the Red Sox since he had a 2.76 ERA in 25 starts but his ERA is now 3.03 after allowing six earned runs with seven hits, two homers and one walk in four innings pitched. He has now allowed more than two earned runs in just seven of his 26 starts this season and still could win the Cy Young if he bounces back.
Cole allowed two homers in this start against the Red Sox after allowing just two homers combined in his previous four starts. Cole allowed six earned runs in this game but had allowed just eight earned runs combined in his previous four starts. This start was a real anomaly for Cole since he had allowed two runs or less in seven of his previous nine starts and he allowed two runs or less in each of his first seven starts this season.
The Yankees offense could not come close to overcoming Cole subpar performance. Red Sox starter Kutter Crawford, who does in fact throw a cutter as one of his primary pitches, only allowed one hit in his six innings pitched and had a no hitter through 5.1 innings. He first hit he allowed was Aaron Judge’s solo homer to center with one out in the 6th inning after he had struck out DJ LeMahieu.
Judge’s homer that went into the bullpen with one out in the 6th inning got the Yankees on the scoreboard. It was 110 mph off the bat and went 412 feet. This was Judge’s second consecutive game with a home run. However, since going 3–5 in his second game after coming off of the injured list on July 29, Judge is just 13–58 with four homers and six RBI in his last 18 games. He has struggled overall since coming off of the injured list. He had a .291 average and a .674 slugging percentage before going on the injured list but his average is now down to .280 and his slugging percentage is now .628.
The only other hit the Yankees had in this game was Greg Allen’s opposite field single with two outs in the seventh inning. Anthony Volpe, who has played in all 123 games that the Yankees have played this season, struck out swinging to end the seventh inning. Volpe is 5–17 (.294) in his last five games but in his last 14 games he is 9–44 (.205).
In the second inning, Isiah Kiner-Falefa tried bunting with Giancarlo Stanton on first. He popped out to the catcher and Stanton was easily doubled up. It does not make any sense having Kiner-Falefa bunt with the very slow runner Stanton on first base.
Kiner-Falefa said that the Yankees’ scouting report said Kutter Crawford has had issues throwing to bases. The intent by having Kiner-Falefa bunt was to have Crawford throw the ball away and spark a rally. Having Stanton on first base was the wrong situation to use this strategy. Crawford’s two errors this season were on a pickoff throw and on a softly hit grounder that he had to field.
Stanton took a fastball right down the middle for a strikeout in 4th. He was likely thinking a curve ball was coming and not the fastball. He struck out three times and was not good with the curve ball in this game. In Stanton’s last seven games, he is just 2–21 with one RBI and 12 strikeouts. His average has dropped from .208 to .199 in these seven games.
After Stanton’s strikeout in the 4th inning, Kiner-Falefa struck out on a splitter to end the 4th. Kiner-Falefa, who went 0–4, had been hitting well before this game since he was 10–33 (.303) and was 5/9 with runners in scoring position in his previous nine games. Kiner-Falefa lined out to rookie left fielder Masataka Yoshida to end the game.
Rafael Devers, who hit a solo homer off of Albert Abreu in the ninth inning, has 22 homers against the Yankees since making his MLB debut in July of the 2017 season, which is the most by any opposing player under 27 of all time. Devers has 28 homers and 84 RBI in 116 games this season. His RBI total is only four fewer than last season in 25 fewer games.
Abreu, who came into the game to start the seventh inning with the Red Sox leading 6–1, threw 56 pitches, which were his career-high in pitches. He didn’t not have much left in the 9th inning but the Yankees left him in since they didn’t want to use another relief pitcher.
DJ LeMahieu, who went 0–4 with three strikeouts, had an 10-game hitting streak coming into this game and has been playing well since All-Star break. His last at-bat was when he struck out looking in the 8th inning. During his 10-game hitting streak, he was 13–35 with two doubles and two RBI and he raised his season average from .231 to .245. Since the All-Star break, he is 27–86 (.314) with eight runs scored and five doubles. He has raised his average since the All-Star break from .220 to .242.
Allen allowed an RBI ground rule double in the 8th since he could not see the ball due to the glaring sun when the ball was on its descent. Allen was standing at the warning track and he had to duck out of the way since he did not want to get hit by the ball.
Crawford, who allowed five earned runs in his previous eight innings (two starts) coming into this game, is the 49th opposing pitcher to go at least 6 innings and allow 2 or fewer runs against the Yankees this season. That’s 40 percent of their games. They’re 9–39 in these games.
Allen allowed an RBI ground rule double in 8th since he could not see the ball when it was on its descent at the warning track.
Since the All-Star break, the Yankees starting pitchers are 7–15 with a 6.45 ERA. The 6.45 starters’ ERA is the worst in MLB over that span.
Since the Yankees need help on offense and have been struggling so much, they should call up Everson Pereira to play outfield. Pereira has been playing very well at Triple-A level, which is the highest minor league level. Pereira, who is the team’s №3 ranked prospect, has a .316 average (43–136), a .379 on-base percentage and a .559 slugging percentage with eight homers and 33 RBI in 34 games since being called up to Triple-A.
It would also make sense to call up catcher Austin Wells, who was the №94 prospect in all of baseball going into this season. In his 24 games at Triple-A Scranton after being called up from Double-A, Wells has a .250 average with a good .340 on-base percentage, nine doubles, two homers and 11 RBI. Overall, in 87 games this season, he has 14 homers, 23 doubles and 63 RBI.
In Wells’s last nine games, he is 10–38 (.263) with four doubles, two homers and seven RBI. The Yankees should bring up Pereira and Wells so they can show what they can do at the Major League level. They will likely even be an upgrade over the players the Yankees are currently playing at their positions
