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 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 from damage done by Hurricane Milton from October 2024 – and this weekend’s ranks high on the list.
Entering the series having lost two straight, the Yankees 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).
On Friday, after totaling five hits in consecutive losses Wednesday and Thursday to the A’s, the Yankees managed five hits in a 5-3 loss. 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.
Sunday featured Rays righthander Drew Rasmussen one-hitting the Yankees through six innings, departing with a 3-0 lead on a day fire-thrower 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, Rays manager Kevin Cash prudently felt no need to push the 30-year-old in mid-April and pulled him after 76 dominant pitches.
Thrilled to see anyone but Rasmussen, who brought a career 1.19 ERA in seven outings (six starts) against them, the Yankees scored twice in the seventh to pull within 3-2.
But their bullpen, pockmarked with questions (beyond closer David Bednar) entering the season, couldn’t hold the Rays down. Longman lefty Ryan Yarbrough allowed a run in the seventh and lefthander Brent Headrick allowed another in the eighth to make it 5-2.
Ben Rice, one of the few Yankee regulars not in a season-opening slump, singled leading off the ninth and Aaron Judge, off to a slow but hardly disastrous start, hit his fourth homer of the year to make it 5-4. Amed Rosario doubled with two outs and, after an intentional walk to Austin Wells, Ryan McMahon, rolling over Mason Englert’s first-pitch changeup, grounded out to end it. That completed a 1-for-4 for McMahon, now 4-for-35 (.114) to start the season.
McMahon, though garnering plenty of attention for those numbers, is hardly alone. Trent Grisham is 6-for-45 (.133) and, should that continue during this week’s seven-game homestand that starts Monday, he’ll start to hear from the Stadium 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).
Chisholm, who did look better at the plate Sunday in going 1-for-4, is nonetheless 10-for-56 (.179). Austin Wells is 6-for-39 (.154).
“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 them leading the majors a season ago in runs (849) and homers (274), much of the reason why the offense’s early struggles are a bit confounding.
But it is also just 15 games and grand conclusions – regardless of the reaction and over-reaction this kind of start can engender – of any team’s season prospects simply can’t be made after such a short period gone from the 162-game schedule.
“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.
