BOSTON — Surprise! Those weren’t toothpicks the Yankees were swinging at during Saturday’s game.
But honestly, it felt like they might as well have been. Their offense, well, hasn’t been effective lately. On a bright day at Fenway Park, the Yankees faced left-handed pitchers for the second game in a row and took a third straight loss against the struggling Red Sox, with a score of 4-1. Their offensive woes are definitely becoming more pronounced.
Jake Bennett and the Red Sox bullpen kept the Yankees (48-34) to just three hits for the second day in a row—a tough blow, especially since the Yankees have lost seven of their last ten games.
It’s almost painful to watch as the Yankees, once buzzing with talent like Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, are now missing key players. They really feel Judge’s absence, and Stanton isn’t around either, while Trent Grisham sits on the disabled list as well. Grisham is expected back this week, but as for Judge and Stanton? It doesn’t seem like they’ll return anytime soon. The Yankees really need to brainstorm a solution to lift themselves out of this slump.
With their eyes on avoiding a four-game losing streak against the Red Sox on Sunday night, the stakes are high.
Things looked bleak after Peyton Tolle pitched a perfect game into the sixth inning against the Yankees on Friday, and on Saturday, Bennett even pitched a no-hitter through the fifth before Max Schumann finally broke that up with a solo home run. That was pretty much the highlight for the Yankees.
Meanwhile, Gerrit Cole struggled again in his second consecutive start, giving up four runs on seven hits, including two solo home runs—one from Masanao Yoshida in the bottom of the first and another from former Yankees first-round pick Anthony Siegler in the second.
It’s honestly not just Cole’s performance that’s causing issues; it’s the entire lineup’s struggles at the plate. The Yankees have been painfully ineffective, totaling just 14 hits in the first three games of this series, which translates to a .149 batting average. Walking eight times during those at-bats really isn’t enough to show they can turn this around.
Some of their usual power hitters aren’t stepping up either. Ben Rice went 0-for-4 and is now just 2-for-23 in the past six games—talk about a slump. Cody Bellinger managed only 1-for-1 with two walks, improving his own stat to 2-for-19 over the same stretch.
The Yankees started the season strongly against left-handed pitchers, with an impressive 18-6 record. Yet, they’ve lost five out of their last six games, including all three so far in this series against Connolly Early, Tolle, and Bennett.
There was a flicker of hope for a potential rally during the seventh inning when Amed Rosario and Bellinger hit back-to-back singles. But Bennett quickly dashed that hope by striking out Jason Dominguez, who simply couldn’t catch a break. The Red Sox then sent Justin Slaten to the bullpen, where they struck out Jose Caballero and pinch hitter Jazz Chisholm Jr. to snuff out any remaining threat.
