BLANKETY BLANK
YANKEES SUFFER SECOND STRAIGHT SHUTOUT
BALTIMORE — That was fast. Riding high after winning four straight series, the Yankees charged into Camden Yards in hopes of overtaking the Orioles in the wild-card chase.
Just 48 hours later, they are trying to avoid a sweep, having lost two in a row following Saturday’s 2-0 defeat, and they now sit 4½ games behind Baltimore for the second wild card.
The defeats led Joe Girardi — not one for hyperbole — to label Sunday’s series finale “the most important game of the year.”
It would be hard to argue with the manager, especially since his team was shut out in consecutive games for the first time since August 2015.
This was the third straight time Baltimore has blanked the Yankees, as the Orioles became the first team since the 1973 White Sox to accomplish that feat against the Bombers.
“It’s tough,” Girardi said. “You don’t ever want to go through this during the course of the season.”
There were many culprits as right-hander Kevin Gausman overpowered the Yankees’ offense for the second time in less than a week.
Last Sunday, he threw seven scoreless innings against them. On Saturday, he went six innings and allowed just two hits.
No Yankee is struggling more than rookie Aaron Judge, who had seven hits — including two homers — in his first five games, but has fallen off a cliff since.
He is in a 3-for-40 slump with 24 strikeouts after another hitless game. He fanned twice and added to his woes when he booted Chris Davis’ bloop hit to right, which allowed Mark Trumbo to score an unearned run to give the Orioles the lead against CC Sabathia in the fourth.
“Just took my eye off it,” Judge said of the mistake.
Before the game, Judge said he wasn’t panicking.
“I’m just sticking to my routine, because I know in the end, everything will work out,” he said. “If I start thinking, ‘I’m up in the majors’ and making a bigger deal of it, I’ll make things more complicated and have a harder time getting out of it.”
It is hard to fathom it could get much worse. Girardi said it is not fair to judge a player based on the small sample size Judge has, but his regression is hard to ignore.
Nevertheless, Girardi insisted he had no plans to make a change in right field, even if just to give Judge a chance to relax.
“We’ve got to get him going,” Girardi said. “We’ve seen some good things, too. We believe in him.”
The Yankees combined have six hits over the past two games — after scoring 27 runs in two games against the Orioles last week and 15 runs in three games in Kansas City.
On Sunday, they’ll turn to the wildly unpredictable Michael Pineda, an alarming prospect if you’re rooting for the Yankees.
Pineda’s effectiveness won’t matter much, of course, if the Yankees don’t break out of their offensive funk.
Sabathia pitched out of trouble for most of his six innings on Saturday, but the unearned run in the fourth and a solo homer by Adam Jones in the fifth did him in.
The Yankees had a chance to get to Gausman in the fourth when they loaded the bases with one out, but Starlin Castro struck out and Brian McCann flied to left.
Afterward, Girardi admitted these past two games have put a dent in their postseason chances.
“You do feel it more,” Girardi said. “We’ve got to find a way to score some runs.”