Erik Boland: Slumping Yankees reach new low after getting swept in return to Trop
Yankees' Max Fried delivers a pitch during the third inning of a game against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field on Saturday in St. Petersburg, Fla. Credit: Getty Images/Kevin Sabitus
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Former Mets general manager Frank Cashen used to say that among the things he liked most about baseball was “there’s always another game tomorrow.”
For Yankees fans, that currently sounds like something from Dante’s Nine Circles rather than providing we’ll-get-’em-the-next-day solace.
The Yankees have had some forgettable games/series over the years at Tropicana Field — which is back in business in 2026 after a one-year hiatus caused by damage done by Hurricane Milton in October 2024 — and this weekend’s ranks high on the list.
The Yankees (8-7) saw their losing streak grow to five games as they were swept by virtue of Sunday’s 5-4 loss, their offense still a work-without-much-progress.
The series was the baseball version of Broadway’s “The Play That Goes Wrong.”
Or, perhaps “The Bronx Is Bungling.’’
“Bad weekend for us, obviously,” manager Aaron Boone said.
Bad offense. Bad relief pitching. Bad ABS challenges. Bad knowledge of the rules regarding double plays (see Chisholm, Jazz).
After totaling five hits in consecutive losses to the Athletics on Wednesday and Thursday, the Yankees managed five hits in a 5-3 loss to the Rays on Friday. Saturday’s 5-4 loss in 10 innings featured the offense going 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position with 12 runners left on base. Of their seven losses, six have been by one run and one has been by two.
On Sunday, Rays righthander Drew Rasmussen held the Yankees to one hit through six innings and departed with a 3-0 lead on a day when Cam Schlittler didn’t have his best stuff.
Fortunately for the Yankees, Rasmussen hadn’t pitched since April 1 and, because of an extensive injury history that includes two Tommy John procedures, manager Kevin Cash prudently felt no need to push him in mid-April, pulling him after 76 dominant pitches.
Thrilled to see anyone but Rasmussen, who now has a career 1.03 ERA and 0.78 WHIP in eight outings (seven starts) against them, the Yankees scored twice in the seventh on Cody Bellinger’s run-scoring single and Giancarlo Stanton’s RBI groundout to pull within 3-2.
But their bullpen, pockmarked with questions (beyond closer David Bednar) entering the season, couldn’t hold the Rays down. Ryan Yarbrough allowed a run in the seventh and Brent Headrick gave up another in the eighth to make it 5-2.
Ben Rice, one of the few Yankees regulars not in a season-opening slump, singled to lead off the ninth and Aaron Judge, off to a slow but hardly disastrous start, hit his fourth homer to bring the Yankees within 5-4.
Amed Rosario doubled with two outs and, after an intentional walk to Austin Wells, Ryan McMahon rolled over Mason Englert’s first-pitch changeup and grounded out to end it. He is 4-for-35 (.114/.262/.114).
Though he has garnered plenty of attention for those numbers, McMahon hardly is alone. Trent Grisham is 6-for-45 (.133); if that continues during this week’s seven-game homestand, he’ll start to hear it from the fans who wanted Jasson Dominguez on the big-league roster out of spring training. (Dominguez is off to a terrific start for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre at 17-for-48, a .354/.475/.521 slash line.)
Chisholm, who did look better at the plate Sunday in going 1-for-4, is 10-for-56 (.179). Wells is 6-for-39 (.154). The Yankees have a .202/.308/.345 slash line as a team, and their .653 OPS ranks 25th out of 30 MLB teams.
“I think we need to simplify some things at the plate, trying to hit every single pitch we see up there and kind of getting ourselves in some bad counts and bad situations,” Judge said. “So I think just as a group, we [need to] simplify some things, simplify our approach a little bit, hunt the pitch we’re looking for and kind of pass the baton. We’ll be in a better spot.”
The Yankees returned much of a group responsible for leading the majors in runs (849) and homers (274) last season, much of the reason why their early struggles are a bit confounding.
But they also have played only 15 games, and grand conclusions — regardless of the reaction and overreaction this kind of start can provoke — of any team’s season prospects simply can’t be made that quickly.
“It’s baseball,” Judge said. “We’ve just got to show up the next day and right the ship. You have to have a short memory and move on to the next one.”
That next one comes Monday night against the Angels.
There is, after all, another game tomorrow.
Gulp.
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.