After investing roughly $500 million during the offseason, the Yankees are looking at another 500 number — and it’s not pretty.
With Tuesday night’s 2-1 loss to the Rays, the Yankees fell to .500 for the season (41-41) and have dropped four straight, including two in a row to last-place Tampa Bay.
It’s an especially ill-timed downturn, in the middle of a long stretch against AL East competition and one that has seen them drop eight of 10.
“Today was the first day of the second half and it’s definitely past time for us to pick things up,” Brett Gardner said. “We’re still right in the thick of things. I’m sure it will come down to the last few days in September like it always does and hopefully we’re in it.”
Not if they go through too many more stretches like this one.
On Tuesday, they were shut down by David Price, who outdueled Hiroki Kuroda.
And after Grant Balfour walked Carlos Beltran to start the bottom of the ninth, he got pinch-hitter Brian McCann and Brian Roberts before walking pinch-hitter Kelly Johnson. Yangervis Solarte grounded to first to end it.
Kuroda (5-6), gave up just two runs over eight innings in his longest outing of the season on a night the Yankees had a depleted bullpen.
“It’s a shame,” Gardner said. “[Kuroda] pitched really well. It’s a wasted start.”
James Loney gave the Rays the lead on the first pitch of the sixth with a homer to right-center off Kuroda to give Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead.
The Yankees bats had another rough night, with Derek Jeter doing some damage off Price, but few others chipping in.
“It’s not just a couple of guys struggling, it’s a number of guys,” said manager Joe Girardi, who has been waiting all year for veterans like Carlos Beltran and McCann to get going.
“Guys have proven track records. I don’t think you forget how to hit in a year.”
And on another night when the Yankees were unproductive with runners in scoring position (1-for-9), Girardi said their biggest problem was likely situational hitting.
“We’ve got to find a way to win close games,” he said.
The Yankees first threatened in the bottom of the fourth, when Jeter got the Yankees’ first hit of the night off Price with a double to center.
Price (7-7) lasted seven innings and failed in his attempt to become just the fourth pitcher to strike out 10 or more batters in six straight starts, fanning “only” nine.
Still, he was pretty good.
After walking Gardner to start the game, the southpaw retired nine batters before Jeter’s double.
It came after the Yankees opted to not have batting practice prior to the game, with Girardi saying: “If we can’t hit BP, we’re in trouble.”
They may be in trouble for more reasons than that and hitting coach Kevin Long ended up being ejected in the sixth inning.
The Yankees were last at the .500 mark on June 8, when they were 31-31.
And while they have shown signs of righting themselves, most recently with a four-game winning streak in the middle of June, they’ve now endured a pair of four-game losing streaks in the last two weeks.
“It’s July 1,” Gardner said. “It’s not like we’re out of things. We’re not ready to give up on each other.”
Still, Beltran has no explanation for the offense’s problems.
“We were playing good and all of a sudden we haven’t been able to score runs and come through for our starting pitchers,” he said.
Girardi, also at a loss for answers, put it simply: “We’ve got to get it done. That’s it.”