NEW YORK — The Yankees picked a bad time to cool off.
With the surging Blue Jays coming into the Bronx for a four-game series, the Yankees' bats were silenced by lefty Hyun-Jin Ryu’s six scoreless innings and a surprisingly strong showing from Toronto’s bullpen. The Blue Jays shut out the Yankees, 8-0, in a Labor Day matinee at Yankee Stadium.
The Yankees (78-59) have lost three straight games. Monday’s loss was a costly one to a team chasing them for a playoff spot. It opened the door for the Red Sox, who went into Monday just a half-game behind the Yankees for the top wild-card spot. The Blue Jays (74-62) came into this four-game series 3.5 games out of the second wild-card spot and have won five straight games. The Yankees are now 28-32 against American league East opponents.
With their bullpen stretched thin by injuries and the 78 games they’ve played that were decided by two runs or fewer, the Yankees went to rookie reliever Brooks Kriske in the ninth. He gave up a leadoff homer to Teoscar Hernandez, loaded the bases on balls and then gave up a grand slam to Marcus Semien, who had two homers on the day.
The bullpen isn’t the only issue the Yankees have to worry about down the stretch. Their offense has pretty much disappeared again.
The Yankees offense, which all but shutdown against the worst pitching staff in baseball over the weekend, was shut out for the eighth time this season. The heart of the Yankees order — Joey Gallo, Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton — went 0 for 11 with seven strikeouts, four by Gallo.
In the 13-game winning streak last month, which propelled the Yankees into the top wild-card spot, they hit .256/.345/.495 with 25 home runs. In the eight games leading into this big series with the Blue Jays, the Yankees went 2-6 and hit .206/.291/.340 with nine homers. That includes going .158/.259/.297 against the Orioles over the weekend.
Judge, who hit .375 during the 13-game winning streak, has now gone 1 for 14 and Stanton, who hit .349 with six homers in the hot streak, has gone 2 for 13.
Yankees starter Jameson Taillon got in trouble early. Semien and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit back-to-back, one-out homers in the first inning to put the Blue Jays ahead 2-0.
He settled in and shut the dangerous young lineup down for six more innings. Taillon allowed just those two runs on three hits, walked two and struck out five in seven innings of work.
That was huge for a Yankees bullpen that has been relied on heavily this season and is starting to show some of its wear and tear.
It’s also a big number for Taillon, who is in his first season back from his second elbow reconstruction surgery. Taillon has thrown 138 2/3 innings this season. After being the best pitcher in the American League in July, Taillon has allowed 19 earned runs in his last five starts for a 6.66 ERA over that span.
The Yankees have monitored how Taillon’s arm has felt and do not think it is a physical drop off.
“That’s been the one thing we’ve been really encouraged by and stuff wise, I feel like it’s there even to make the case, it’s as good as it’s been at any point in the season,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Physically he’s responded really well, he’s bouncing back really well, like in between his starts. I think he’s feeling strong. All the measurable things have held up really well. So I’m encouraged where he’s at. I mean, it was something that we were mindful of, obviously, coming into the year. ... I personally feel good about where he’s at physically.”
The Yankees bullpen is not in its best physical shape. They lost their most reliable reliever when Jonathan Loaisiga was placed on the injured list Sunday. And with the extraordinary amount of close games they have played this season, their relievers are stretched thin.
