GRAY’S SPOT IN DANGER
Righty ripped again, rotation spot in peril Yanks stumble into Fenway for big series
Forget about the Yankees heading to Boston for their biggest series of the season with any momentum.
Instead of taking advantage of a downtrodden team that sold off most of its remaining assets at the trade deadline, the Yankees instead looked lost in an ugly 7-5 defeat to the Orioles in The Bronx.
This one featured another atrocious clunker from Sonny Gray, some shoddy in field play and a lineup that was shut down by Alex Cobb, perhaps the worst pitcher in the majors.
The Yankees finally woke up with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, but it came too late to salvage a dreadful loss to the Orioles.
Gleyber Torres hit a threerun homer to left to get the Yankees to within two runs before Greg Bird popped out to end it as the Yankees didn’t look like a team ready to battle Boston for the top spot in the AL East.
“Today was a bad day for us and we need to learn from it, flush it real quick with the idea of getting after it [Thursday],’’ Aaron Boone said of the upcoming matchup against the Red Sox, who were off Wednesday and lead the Yankees by 5½ games.
Trying to win a fourth straight for the first time since June 18-21, the Yankees instead watched Gray get booed off the mound in the third inning.
G ray ’s outing — 2²/₃ innings, seven runs, all earned — came on the heels of three straight solid starts, but it proved again that any thoughts of the right-hander being consistently rel i able should be put aside.
Boone left open the option of replacing Gray in the rotation with Lance Lynn, who made his Yankee debut and delivered 4¹/₃ scoreless innings in relief.
“Those are all things we’ve got to evaluate [and] consider,’’ Boone said. “We do have some options now. We’re not gonna be emotional about this right now.”
Gray said he wants to stay in his spot, but ac knowledged “it’s not my decision to make.
“It started with me,’’ Gray said. “To get put in a hole as a team as many times as I’ve done that this year, it’s a frustrating spot to be in.”
Lynn saved much of t he bullpen with his outing, but the offense never got back in the game. And Lynn, who was an option to start against the Red Sox Saturday if J.A. Happ is unable to re cover from hand, foot and mouth disease in time, won’t be available and the Yankees might have to turn to Luis Cessa.
The Yankees’ problems hardly ended with Gray.
Cobb entered the game 2-14 with a 6.08 ERA before limiting the Yankees to one run over six innings.
And though t he Yankees didn’t make any errors, sloppy in field play—particularly by Torres, who twice failed to hustle to cover bases — helped spark Baltimore’s fiverun second.
It led to third-base coach Phil Nevin briefly yelling in the dugout during a 39-minute rain delay in the third.
“It wasn’t directed at any one person or one t hi ng,’ ’ Nevin said. “It was more ‘Let’s go.’ There’s no disrespect to anyone across the f i el d or anything like that, but I think if you ask anybody in [the clubhouse], we’re better than what we were showing today.”
They had better hope so, or they won’t have much luck against Boston.
The Yankees had chances to get back in the game, but Giancarlo Stanton whiffed with the bases loaded in the second. And after scoring a run in the eighth, they had the bases full with no one out when Austin Romine struck o ut and pinch-hitter Nei l Walker grounded into a double play.
Still, Brett Gardner said he believes the Yankees can hunt Boston down.
“If we play the ball we’re capable of playing, we’ll catch them,’’ Gardner said. “If we don’t, we won’t. That’s the way I look at it. There’s no need in adding any urgency or putting more pressure on yourselves than there already is.”