The New York Yankees split a four-game game series with the Oakland Athletics after falling in the finale on Sunday evening. The Bombers scored just one run in the game after tallying two in Saturday night’s loss.
The Yankees’ offense has gone quiet the past few days, earning just four hits against one of the worst starting pitchers in baseball, Adrian Martinez. Martinez entered the game with a 6.08 ERA, having given up 18 runs in his last four performances.
Fortunately for Martinez, he went up against a quiet offense, lasting 5.1 innings and giving up just one earned run, striking out six batters.
Manager Aaron Boone must get more out of his team against less than adequate starting pitchers. Teams as talented as the Yankees need to beat up on poor squads like the Athletics, who currently feature a 48–81 record on the season.
The Yankees were trailing from the get-go:
Boone rolled out Clarke Schmidt as their starter for today’s game, giving up four earned runs over 4.1 innings, including eight hits and seven strikeouts. Schmidt didn’t look awful, giving up a few unfortunate ground balls that sneaked through the infield, but two runs in the first inning put the Yankees in a tough spot immediately.
Unfortunately, the the Yanks continue to deal with polarizing offensive play. They scored 13 runs to open the series against Oakland but failed to get anything going afterward.
The Yankees will now travel to Los Angeles to face off against the Angels over a three-game series. The Angels have won three consecutive games but are out of playoff contention due to their inefficient pitching this season.
After Los Angeles, the Bombers will travel to Tampa Bay before hosting the Minnesota Twins in a four-game series at Yankee Stadium.
They currently sit 7.5 games above Tampa, making their two three-game series in the month of September extremely important.