Sanchez struggles pick up where they left off

The Yankees hoped to add some pop to their lineup with the return of Gary Sanchez on Friday, but the power-hitting catcher might as well have remained absent.

Sanchez, who returned to the lineup for the first time since being placed on the disabled list June 24 with a strained groin, went 1-for-5 with two strikeouts. He left six runners on base in three critical moments, including an eighth inning strikeout with the tying run on third, in a 7-5 loss to the Mets on Friday night.

“Definitely don’t feel good about it,” Sanchez said through a translator after the game. “Had opportunities to help my team and I didn’t help my team tonight. I’ve got to put that aside and move toward tomorrow and hopefully find myself in a situation where I’m able to do my job tomorrow.”

Before the game, manager Aaron Boone said the key to getting Sanchez going would be to have quality at-bats, which afterward the skipper said he saw in the seventh inning at-bat against Seth Lugo, despite it ending in a strikeout with runners on the corners.

“Thought he got some pitches. I thought the second to last at bat against Lugo... I thought was best at bat at night where he was on some pitches,” Boone said. “Just couldn’t deliver tonight but hopefully at least a first start for him and getting him back and going.”

The 25-year-old slugger missed 20 games while on the

DL, but the struggles are just a continuation of what plagued him earlier this year that resulted in a .190 batting average entering the game and prolonged periods of slumps.

“I expect more of myself,” Sanchez said before the game. “I know I can be better in certain areas. The focus now is to help the team."

Yet, Sanchez failed to help the team -- first in the third inning -while trailing 4-1 he came up to bat with runners on first and second and two outs but swung at a first pitch slider from Noah Syndergaard and popped up to second base.

In the seventh he struck out on four pitches with two on and in the eighth, with the tying run on third and go-ahead run on first, Sanchez worked a 2-2 count before swinging at a slider from Robert Gsellman down and away to end the inning.

The blame for the loss does not totally lie on Sanchez, though.

The Yankees went 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position and left a total of 14 men on base -- a recipe for disaster.

“It’s always frustrating when you have so many opportunities,” Boone said. “We cashed in a few of them. Couldn’t get that big hit tonight to eventually grab the lead. … The biggest thing is we want to keep creating those opportunities and trust that a good run of production with those guys out there is upon us.”