Manager Aaron Boone hardly minced words when describing the frustrating sight of the New York Yankees experiencing a difficult weekend at Fenway Park.
After their worst series of the season, the Yankees hope to avoid a fifth straight loss Monday night when they host the Detroit Tigers in the opener of a three-game set.
New York returns home after going 2-5 on a trip through Detroit and Boston. The trip ended when Fernando Cruz allowed a game-ending single to Jarren Duran of the Red Sox in the 10th inning of Sunday’s 5-4 loss.
The Yankees are also returning home with eight losses in their past 11 games after scoring nine runs in the four games at Boston. During the series, the Yankees were 4-for-24 with runners in scoring position and batted .133 (17-for-128).
“It’s one of those (expletive) moments, (expletive) times of the season where you have a really rough weekend against a division rival,” Boone said. “But you got to get over it quickly and understand we got a homestand starting tomorrow and pick ourselves up. The bottom line is we got to get it going offensively.’
The lost weekend at Fenway is part of an extended offensive slump for the Yankees, who are batting .190 (68-for-357) over their last 11 games. In that span, Ben Rice is in a 7-for-43 slump (.163) while Cody Bellinger is in a 5-for-37 slide (.135).
“We got a really good freaking team. We played (expletive) on this trip, kind of feels bad, kind of (ticked) off, but that’s what you sign up for,” Boone said. “We’ll dig ourselves out of it and get it going in short order. Bottom line is we didn’t play well this weekend, and we got to do better.”
The Tigers earned a 5-3 home win over the Yankees a week ago but enter Monday with five losses in their last six games. Detroit dropped three of four at home against the Houston Astros after losing the final two games against the Yankees.
Detroit’s past two losses saw its relievers allow 11 runs, including all seven of Sunday’s 7-5, 10-inning loss when right-handers Kenley Jansen and Kyle Finnegan combined to allow five runs.
The difficult bullpen showings were matched by some tough displays at the plate as the Tigers went 3-for-21 with runners in scoring position in the past two games.
“At this level, their guys are going to come up with big hits or big swings or big pitches or big plays,” Detroit manager A.J. Hinch said. “This is the big leagues, so you don’t consider yourself like every single time it’s going to go your way; it’s competition. But we do feel like we left a little bit out there, at least I do, in terms of opportunity to start to trend better in the right direction.”
Ryan Weathers (3-5, 3.95 ERA) will face Detroit for the second straight outing after allowing one earned run in six innings on Wednesday. The left-hander earned the victory after going winless in his previous seven starts this season.
For his career, Weathers is 1-0 with a 0.64 ERA in two meetings with the Tigers.
Casey Mize (2-5, 2.95) will face the Yankees for the second straight start after allowing four runs on eight hits in 5 2/3 innings in Tuesday’s 4-3 loss. Mize is 0-4 with 3.38 ERA in his past six starts, and the Tigers have not scored more than four runs in any of those outings.
Mize is 2-2 with a 4.18 ERA in five career starts against the Yankees.
–Field Level Media
