Erik Boland: Yankees finally show some focus, and it results in a much-needed win
Cam Schlittler of the Yankees delivers a pitch in the first inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field on Monday in St Petersburg, Fla. Credit: Getty Images/Julio Aguilar
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The “F” word has swirled around the Yankees the last week.
No, not that word.
That word, no doubt, has received liberal use from the collective fan base in descriptions of their favorite team’s play of late, a stretch of horrid roster-wide play that saw the skidding Yankees enter their series against the AL East-leading Rays Monday night having lost nine of their last 10 games.
“Focus.”
Or lack thereof.
Captain Aaron Judge and second baseman Jazz Chisholm each targeted it as an issue, starting with the former last Wednesday when he mentioned it before what would be the Yankees’ seventh straight loss.
Manager Aaron Boone, who one easily could envision merrily conducting the Titanic band as it played on while the ship slipped beneath the Atlantic, disputed that.
“I don’t think we’re lacking focus,” Boone said before Monday’s game at Tropicana Field. “We haven’t played well.”
No disputing that.
The Yankees, an MLB-worst 4-13 since June 18 going into Monday, have neither hit, fielder no pitched with any consistent degree of competence in that stretch.
Cam Schlittler, at the very least, provided a glimmer Monday night that, while it’s too soon to declare there’s light at the end of the tunnel, perhaps there might be something that isn’t just more tunnel.
The lanky, hard-throwing righthander, after consecutive rough outings, resembled the pitcher who spent the first half of the season as the class of the American League.
Schlittler (9-5) was brilliant over eight innings, matching his career high, allowing one run, four hits and no walks, lowering his season ERA to 2.01 in a much-needed 5-1 victory.
Schlittler, who allowed a season-high six runs and seven hits, including a season-high four homers, over four innings of a 9-3 loss last Tuesday against the Tigers at the Stadium, struck out eight Monday against a Rays team that excels at not striking out.
“I’m not surprised,” Boone said. “I’m not surprised he bounced back from arguably the toughest outing of his young career so far. He was great. He was dominant.”
The same could not be said of the Yankees offense, those woes far from being able to be described in terms suggesting they’re in the rearview mirror. The besieged unit produced all of three hits against four Tampa Bay pitchers, two of those hits, both of them homers, coming from shortstop Jose Caballero, a former Ray.
Entering Monday, the Yankees offense had been outscored, 91-47, in their previous 17 games, going 100-for-546 (.183) with a .564 OPS in that stretch, with 167 strikeouts.
The Yankees struck out 17 times Monday night so, again, don’t make too much out of one game.
Rays starter Griffin Jax retired the first 13 Yankees before walking Jasson Dominguez and Chisholm back-to-back in the fifth. Caballero then golfed a 2-and-2 changeup to left, his ninth homer a three-run shot that made it 3-0.
Caballero, who should be the everyday shortstop until further notice, homered again in the eighth to make it 4-1.
Ben Rice, in an 11-for-67 (.164) slide, homered in the ninth to make it 5-1.
“It’s really important,” Caballero, who punctuated his homer with an Olympic caliber bat flip, said of the victory. “We’ve been having some struggles…it’s good to get back on the winning track.”
Meanwhile, Schlittler, still bringing a sterling 2.08 ERA into the night after those aforementioned clunkers, throttled the always pesky Rays, a club that brought a 31-12 home record into the week.
It was, as Boone referenced, a far cry from his previous outing.
“Just stick to my strengths,” Schlittler said. “Try and do what I do best and that’s attack hitters with three fastballs.”
The generally laid-back Schlittler occasionally likes to fire himself before a start by looking at some of the negative comments he receives on social media, something he availed himself of before this start.
“Last week was tough, right?” Schlittler said. “They want to say there’s [expletive] regression because I had one bad outing, so it was personal to go out there and just have a dominant start and put this team in the right position.”
After striking out one in a 10-pitch first, he allowed his first hit of the night, a flared single to right by Jonny DeLuca.
He did not allow another until an infield single by Yankees nemesis Chandler Simpson. The fleet-footed Simpson would score the Rays only off Schlittler later in the inning on an RBI single by Richie Palacios.
That made it 3-1 and Schlittler didn’t allow another base runner until Palacios’ one-out single in the eighth.
The Yankees still aren’t out of the woods, far from it.
But for one night, because of Schlittler most of all – with, of course, a significant boost from Caballero – they could collectively direct their focus on what has been a rarity the last three weeks.
A win.
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.
