Shutout skid hits 3, playoff hopes fade

TORONTO — No matter how you look at it, the math doesn’t look good for the Yankees.

With zero runs over their past 27 innings, a 2-7 record on the road trip and a four-game deficit with eight games remaining on the schedule, the numbers are adding up to a dark October in the Bronx.

Saturday’s 3-0 loss to the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre was the Yankees’ third straight defeat – all shutouts – and 10th in their past 13 games.

Jose Bautista broke a scoreless tie in the eighth, crushing a three-run home run off Tyler Clippard to move the Yankees one step closer to elimination.

The Orioles beat Arizona Saturday night, passing the Tigers (7-4 losers at Kansas City) for the second wild card. That leaves the Yankees 4.5 games back.

“A lot of things have to go our way,” Clippard said of the bleak playoff hopes. “We’re going to play every game like it’s our last and try to win them all. That’s all we can do at this point.”

In addition to the Tigers and Orioles, the Mariners and Astros are also situated ahead of the Bombers in pursuit of a postseason berth, reducing their chances even further.

“There’s a lot of things in life that sometimes the odds are really against you; but you still fight,” Joe Girardi said. “The odds become more difficult every day that passes by, but you never lose fight. If you do, then you’re not a true competitor.”

CC Sabathia certainly competed Saturday, holding the powerful Blue Jays scoreless over seven innings of four-hit ball, but the offense posted its third straight goose egg as Marcus Stroman dominated them with seven shutout innings of one-hit ball.

The Yankees finished the day with only three hits, giving them a total of six through the first two games of the series while extending their scoreless skid to 27 innings.

“No pointing fingers; it’s just the offense in general,” said Billy Butler, who struck out as a pinch-hitter to end the eighth with a runner on third base and the game still scoreless. “We’re getting guys on, we’re just not getting that big hit to push some runs across.”

Having been blanked in their previous two games, Girardi was hoping for a fast start against Stroman. But Brian McCann grounded into a double play in the second inning, erasing the Yankees’ lone baserunner through the first three frames.

The Yankees drew walks in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, but they couldn’t take advantage of any of them. Brett Gardner advanced to second base with nobody out in the fourth after a leadoff walk and a passed ball, but Stroman struck out Jacoby Ellsbury and Gary Sanchez before getting Didi Gregorius on a routine fly ball to end the inning.

“The first couple of innings it was tough to see,” Girardi said. “I thought we’d see the ball better as the game went on with the shadows and put some better atbats on him, but we just weren’t able to do much.”

That was the only runner the Yankees had in scoring position against Stroman over seven innings, though he departed the game in a scoreless tie thanks to Sabathia’s strong outing.

The Yankees’ best chance of the day came after Ronald Torreyes’ two-out triple off Jason Grilli, but pinch-hitter Butler couldn’t bring him home, fouling off a 2-1 slider he felt he should have hit before swinging through a high fastball to strand the runner at third.

“The slider he threw me, I’m still wondering how I missed it,” Butler said. “Round bat, round ball; I was on it. It was up, but it was a good pitch to hit and I just fouled it straight back. That’s baseball and it happens. Hate to see it happen in that situation, but I was prepared. I did everything right, just didn’t get a good result.”

Clippard relieved Sabathia after 91 pitches, getting two quick groundouts. But Josh Donaldson singled and went to second on a wild pitch, then Edwin Encarnacion walked, bringing Bautista to the plate.

Bautista got ahead 2-0 before unloading on a 91 mph fastball, drilling it over the left-field wall as the Toronto crowd exploded.

“I just didn’t execute a pitch,” Clippard said. “It was a fastball right down the middle. If I get it where I want it to, I don’t think he’s going to do what he did there.”

But he did, moving the Yankees one day closer to their offseason.

“You keep fighting,” Girardi said. “That’s all you can do.”