Another day and another loss for the New York Yankees, who are swept at home by the Toronto Blue Jays with the series ending on Thursday. By a score of 6-4, starting pitcher Nestor Cortes Jr. gave his best effort, lasting 6.0 innings, giving up just two earned runs during that time span. The Yankees relief pitching was inadequate, as they allowed four runs, including two in the ninth-inning from Andrew Heaney, who has elevated his ERA to 5.86.
Overall, the bullpen has been a liability as of late, and the offense has been nonexistent, despite the team picking up nine hits. Aaron Judge had himself a solid day, recording three hits and a run, but it wasn’t enough to push the Yankees over the edge, despite homers in the ninth inning courtesy of Luke Voit and Gary Sanchez.
“We just had a horrible homestand,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “It’s not OK. … But we’ve been through this throughout the season. We’re up against it again. We look forward to going out and turning this around tomorrow. We know it can turn just as quick as it’s gone sideways here.”
The Yankees are only a week removed from being on a 13 game winning streak, one of the longest in franchise history. Turning things around is not out of the picture, but it must be sooner rather than later as they continue to lose ground in the Wild Card standings. Having lost their last six games, the Bombers are staring the Blue Jays right in the face, sitting just 0.5 games ahead in the WC.
The season is quickly winding to an end, with just 22 games remaining, including back-to-back-to-back series against AL East opponents in Boston, Toronto, and Tampa Bay.
“It’s not a secret to anybody,” Cortes said. “We’ve had a bad stretch for the past 10 games and we want to win just as much as everybody does. I think we know where we are in the standings, and we want to win games.”
With three games coming up against the Mets in Queens, the Yankees will be relying on Jordan Montgomery to get things started off. The Mets will feature Tylor Megill on the mound, who has a 4.20 ERA this season. The Yankees are more than capable of overcoming a struggling Mets squad, in fact, their season depends on it.