New York Yankees: Good and bad news following blowout loss to Toronto

New York Yankees, Michael King
Sep 4, 2020; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; New York Yankees pitcher Michael King (73) throws a pitch in the first inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports

The New York Yankees picked up their second consecutive loss on Monday evening, following a defeat to the Boston Red Sox on Sunday. In the first of a four-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays, the Yankees were blown out 11-5.

Utilizing Michael King as their primary starter for this matchup, he was knocked out of the game relatively early. Before even pitching three complete innings, King had allowed five hits and five earned runs. He now has a bloated 7.76 ERA.

Luckily for the Yankees, they’ve already clinched a playoff spot, which makes the remaining games based more around their seeding for the playoffs.

Good news and bad news for the New York Yankees:

GOOD NEWS:

There wasn’t much good news in Monday evening’s defeat, aside from two batters who performed well. Lead-off man DJ LeMahieu had two hits on the night, and Gleyber Torres went 2-for-2 with two walks. LeMahieu has a 13-game hit streak in the works. He was named the AL player of the week with an impressive statistical output:

.423/.516/1.038 with nine runs scored, 11 hits, four doubles, four homers, 10 RBIs, and five walks in six games.

In what was nearly a four-hour game, the Yankees didn’t seem to have much desire for victory. After plastering 43 total runs against Toronto last week over three games, their offense didn’t show up this time around. With their full batting order in place, you would expect better from the Yankees, and they must catch a hot streak heading into exhibition games.

While a majority of the game was spent watching Yankees go back and forth from the batter’s box, they sparked in the ninth-inning, thanks to a two-out bases-loaded double from Mike Tauchman that cleared the bases.

BAD NEWS:

There was plenty of bad news to go around for the Yankees against Toronto. Their offense was lackluster, going 10 straight batters without getting on base between the 3rd and 7th inning.

As for their pitching, King was not reliable, and Jonathan Loaisiga lasted only one inning, allowing five hits and three earned runs. The starters and relief arms did not provide much confidence for management.

One interesting statistic, the Yankees haven’t had back to back losses of eight runs or more since 2003 against the Athletics. Nonetheless, the Yankees are also closing in on mathematically being eliminated from winning the American League East division. They are currently four games back on the Tampa Bay Rays, who just beat the Mets 2-1 on Monday. They have two more games against the Mets and then a three-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies to finalize their regular season.