Slumping Bird on big-spot failure: ‘It happens’

Here was the situation Yankees first baseman Greg Bird — any pro player, actually — wanted. Bases loaded. Bottom of the ninth. Team down by two runs. The Rays, to counter Bird, plucked a lefty, Adam Kolarek, out of the bullpen. Dramatic drumroll, please.

Bird popped up the first pitch foul to third. It was a pitch to hit, he said.

“Yeah, it was on the plate, but a little in. What are you gonna do?” Bird said after his pop out began a three-out sequence that finally sunk the Yankees in their 3-1 matinee defeat at Yankee Stadium on Thursday.

That out drew boos from the fans and completed Bird’s frustrating 0-of- 4 day that made him five for his last 46 at-bats (.109).

“Just baseball,” Bird said in trying to explain his recent futility. “Sometimes it’s not there and you’ve got to compete and be a hitter and that’s what I’m trying to do. Obviously that would have been a nice spot to keep the line kind of moving, but it happens. I’ll be the first one to tell you I wanted to get it done.”

Bird is coming back from two surgeries over two seasons — he missed all of 2016 with shoulder surgery then underwent ankle surgery in July 2017, a procedure that also cost him the first 47 games this season. The lack of play has taken a toll. Manager Aaron Boone suggested it is a simple lack of stamina.

Among other things, Boone said, there also is a noticeable lack of explosiveness.

“He’s a little bit where he was when he first came back, struggling to impact the ball when he’s getting pitches and just lacking a little bit of that explosion we saw there for a few weeks … before the All-Star break,” Boone said. “Right now, there’s just not that explosion through the zone.

“I don’t feel like he’s injured,” continued Boone, citing “lack of stamina … I think he’s over [the surgery] and past it but I also think there’s a level of building up that stamina and explosion [while] recovering from a surgery.”

Boone said he remains confident Bird, who has played 67 games (48 was his previous MLB high), is trending the right way.

Bird appreciated the support. But he won’t make excuses.

“I’m just proud to be playing. I’m proud to be putting this uniform on every day,” Bird said. “It’s the most games I’ve ever played in a season.”