The Yankees bats are still nowhere to be found, as they lost to the Tampa Bay Rays, 3-1.
Here are the takeaways…
1. The Yankees offense continued to struggle against Rich Hill, amassing just three singles in their first five innings, with two of them coming in the second. Surprisingly, the Rays took Hill out of the game after five frames, and brought in Michael Wacha. The former Met retired the first five batters he faced in relief, but Miguel Andujar belted an opposite field solo home run to put the Yankees on the board.
Gary Sanchez drew a pinch-hit walk, and that brought up Brett Gardner as the tying run, but Pete Fairbanks got him to strike out the end the threat.
The Yankees had the game-tying run at the plate in Andujar with two outs in the ninth inning, but JP Feyereisen got him swinging to end the game.
2. Jameson Taillon was solid in his first two innings of work, striking out three. But in the third, he allowed an RBI double to Manuel Margot that scored Kevin Kiermaier all the way from first. In the fourth, he allowed a leadoff home run to red-hot Austin Meadows that gave Tampa Bay a 2-0 lead. Yankee killer Randy Arozarena tacked on a two-out RBI single. In the fifth, he allowed the first two batters he faced to reach base, which knocked him out after 85 pitches, and Lucas Luetge kept them on retiring all three batters he faced in the sixth. In all, Taillon’s final line was five innings, three runs, five hits, three walks, and five strikeouts.
3. Luetge also shut the Rays down 1-2-3 in the seventh. He has not allowed a run in 13-straight appearances, totaling 15.1 innings in that stretch. He has dropped his ERA from 6.10 to 2.45 in this span.
4. Giancarlo Stanton‘s 0-for-4 day puts him at 0-for-12 with eight strikeouts since coming off the injured list on Friday.
5. DJ LeMahieu went 0-for-4, as well. It was his 12th game going 0-for-4 or worse this year. He had just five such games in last year’s 60-game season – Monday was the Yankees’ 54th game.
6. Gio Urshela is also in a prolonged slump – after an 0-for-4 afternoon, he is now seven for his last 48 (.146).
7. The Yankees have scored two runs or fewer in nine of their last 12 games. That is the first time that’s happened to the Yankees since August of 1971.
What’s next?
The Yankees will look to get back in the win column as they continue their four-game set against the Rays on Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. in the Bronx. The Yankees’ starter is TBD, while the Rays will go with their ace, Tyler Glasnow.