The Yankees’ slump reached another ugly checkpoint Tuesday night, and the strikeout numbers told the story as loudly as the scoreboard did.
New York lost to the Rays at Tropicana Field, 6-4, for its 13th defeat in the last 17 games. The bigger jolt: the Yankees punched out 17 more times, making them the first team in American League history to strike out 17 times in consecutive games. Over the two-game stretch, they piled up 34 strikeouts, which is now a franchise record.
“That's a lot of strikeouts,” Cody Bellinger, who went 1 for 4 with two strikeouts Tuesday, said after the game (via MLB.com). “I knew we had 17 yesterday.
I didn't feel like we had that many today. But the Rays, they've notoriously got really good arms.”
The whiffs have become a defining issue during this 4-13 slide. In 12 of those 17 games, the Yankees have struck out at least 10 times. The lack of contact has been paired with a shortage of walks and a drop in home runs, and the result has been the worst offense in baseball by a wide margin since the skid began June 20.
Here’s how New York stacks up over that span:
Runs per game: 2.94, next worst Blue Jays at 3.63
Batting average: .181, next worst Mariners at .217
On-base percentage: .237, next worst Blue Jays at .273
Slugging percentage: .318, next worst Mariners at .330
Strikeout rate: 30.9%, next worst Guardians at 26.6%
“I’m confident in our approach,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Tuesday (via MLB.com). “But we’ve got to get some guys on track right now.
We’ve got some really good players that are going through a tough time right now. Part of our approach is being a tough out and being situational.
We’ve got to do a better job of that right now.”
The injuries to Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton have only made the lineup thinner, and outside of Ben Rice - who has four homers in his last seven games - the bats have been largely quiet. Bellinger is 8 for 66 (.121) over his last 18 games.
Paul Goldschmidt struck out four times Tuesday and is stuck in an 0 for 30 stretch. Down the order, Ryan McMahon and Austin Wells haven’t provided much offense at any point this season.
The problems haven’t stopped at the plate. Will Warren gave up six runs in four innings Tuesday, the rotation has hit a rough patch, the bullpen remains shaky, and the Yankees have not done themselves any favors by not taking care of the baseball. Put it all together, and the 4-13 skid starts to make sense.
“We've got some guys clearly going through it right now, and in a little bit of a funk,” Boone said (via MLB.com). “They're a little bit in-between, coupled with we're facing good pitching. But at the end of the day, we've got to find a way offensively, especially the times when it's challenging.”
The loss left the Yankees at 50-41, four games behind the Rays in the AL East. They still hold the top wild-card spot and are 5 ½ games up on a postseason berth.
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