Mark Teixeira’s futility against the Red Sox has become frightening.
Teixeira went 0-for-5 in last night’s 5-4 Yankees loss in The Bronx, making him a woeful 0-for-17 in the Yankees’ four games against the Red Sox this season.
But, Teixeira’s struggles against the Red Sox go beyond the start of this year. The first baseman also closed last season hitless in his final 11 at-bats against Boston.
Teixeira is now 0-for-his-last-28 against the Red Sox. During that time, Teixeira has produced 13 strikeouts and zero RBIs.
Last night in The Bronx, Teixeira helped kill three different Yankees rallies, stranding three runners.
“I didn’t get the job done,” he said.
After popping out to third in the first inning and grounding out to first in the fourth inning — both times with nobody on base — Teixeira came up in the fifth with Brett Gardner on second, two outs and the game tied 2-2. A hit here and the Yankees likely take the lead. Instead, Teixeira kept it tied, going down swinging against Clay Buchholz.
Teixeira then had a chance in the eighth, this time against flame-throwing righty reliever Daniel Bard. Down 5-2, Curtis Granderson opened the inning with a triple, and Teixeira worked a 3-1 count against Bard. But on the next pitch, he popped out meekly to short.
Granderson eventually scored on a wild pitch, but the out was huge — especially since after Teixeira’s pop-out, Alex Rodriguez walked and Robinson Cano was hit by a pitch. Both of them were stranded.
Finally in the ninth inning against Jonathan Papelbon, Teixeira came up as the potential winning run, with the Yankees down 5-4 and Granderson on first base with two outs. Teixeira popped out to Kevin Youkilis at third to end the game.
“I think overall I’m swinging at good pitches,” he said. “But I’ve got to do some damage.”
Since signing his 8-year, $180 million contract with the Yankees, Teixeira has been a pivotal player in The Rivalry. The last two seasons against Boston, he hit .293 (44-for-150) with 14 homers and 29 RBIs in 36 games. But Teixeira ended last season 0-for-11 against Boston and is 0-for-17 to start 2011, coming up empty in his last 28 against the Sox.