Yankees’ patchwork lineup couldn’t get anything going against Boston: ‘We are in a hole’

New York Yankees, Aaron Boone
USA Today

The New York Yankees were forced to play with lots of reserves and minor leaguers on Friday night’s series opener against the Boston Red Sox. A COVID-19 outbreak took Aaron Judge, Gio Urshela, and Kyle Higashioka from the lineup, plus pitchers Jonathan Loaisiga, Wandy Peralta, ad Nestor Cortes Jr.

On top of that, first baseman Luke Voit was placed on the 10-day injured list with knee soreness and there is no timetable for his return. As a result, the Yankeed had to play the likes of Trey Amburgey, Hoy Park, Brett Gardner, Tim Locastro, Chris Gittens, and Greg Allen.

Not only that, but DJ LeMahieu, Giancarlo Stanton, Sánchez and Gleyber Torres combined to go 1-for-15 as the Yankees fell to 0-7 against the Red Sox.

“We’re in a hole,” manager Aaron Boone said to MLB.com. “We’ve got to play really good baseball to get back into this. We’ve got to have that focus, walking in those doors every day. Rinse and repeat. The urgency has got to be absolutely there every single day.”

The Yankees need a winning streak ASAP

Even Red Sox manager Alex Cora expressed some sympathy towards the Yankees and Boone.

“I know what Boonie is going through over there with the roster and it really sucks,” Cora said. “This is not about competition. This is about human beings that are going through a pandemic. It’s hard on everybody.”

With the loss, the Yankees are now nine full games behind the Red Sox in the AL East standings and fell to fourth place due to the Toronto Blue Jays’ victory.

These two weeks are crucial to the Yankees’ season, as they will be without Judge, Urshela, Higashioka, and Voit for at least a few more days and they need to string together wins so they can keep their playoff hopes alive.

“We’re missing important pieces in our lineup,” catcher Gary Sánchez said through an interpreter. “We have a lot of young players that are here now. It’s time for them to step up and help out, and eventually when our guys get better and recuperate, hopefully they can pick up where they left off.”

 

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