NEW YORK — Now, the Yankees can add injury to their insulting play. Gio Urshela, the Yankee whose bat had started to heat up, left Wednesday night’s game with lower back tightness. The Yankees can’t get anything going in the right direction. Their offense, one of the most dangerous in baseball over the last five years, is currently the worst in the American League. Corey Kluber, perhaps the most dominant pitcher in the league just three years ago, can’t seem to find his way through five decent innings.
The Yankees scored their first ninth-inning run of the season, but it was too little too late as they lost to the Braves, 4-1, at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday to fall to 6-11.
With the two-game series split with the Braves, the Yankees have won just one of their first six series of the season. It’s their worst start through 17 games since 1991 and their 59 runs are the fewest for a Yankees team through 17 games since 1984.
The offense, which is built to bang away their other warts, continues to struggle with just five hits Wednesday night. In the five-game homestand, the Yankees managed to score just 11 runs on 20 hits. Clint Frazier singled with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to drive in his first run of the season, in fact his first RBI since Sept. 19, 2020.
The Yankees blew a chance in the seventh, with the bases loaded and two outs. Their best hitter with runners in scoring position, DJ LeMahieu, hit a hard grounder right to third base for an easy out. LeMahieu went 0 for 5 Wednesday night.
The Yankees have scored the fewest runs in the American League. They entered the game with the worst OPS in baseball and tied for 23rd in on-base percentage. They are tied with the Orioles for 23rd in home runs with just 17.
Kluber, the two-time Cy Young winner, has yet to get through a fifth inning this year. He allowed two earned runs on two hits and four walks. He struck out two in 4 2/3 innings of work.
Even the bullpen, which has been so reliable so far this season, could not save them.
Kluber had given up a leadoff single to Pablo Sandoval and struck out Dansby Swanson to start the fifth. He got ahead of Austin Riley 0-2 before losing him. He walked the Braves’ No. 9 hitter, Guillermo Heredia, to get the Yankees bullpen working in a hurry. Ehire Adrianza’s bases-loaded sacrifice fly brought in the Braves' first run and then Kluber walked Freddie Freeman on four straight pitches.
Aaron Boone quickly went to young fireballer Nick Nelson, who issued a bases-loaded walk to Marcell Ozuna on four straight pitches, before striking out Travis d’Arnaud to finally end the inning.
Kluber’s start just added to the growing concern about the Yankees’ rotation behind ace Gerrit Cole. While Cole has been consistently good, the other four have combined to go 1-6 with a 5.50 ERA.
After letting veterans Masahiro Tanaka, J.A. Happ and James Paxton walk as free agents, the Yankees rotation behind Cole was a bunch of question marks. Instead of chasing a co-ace like Trevor Bauer, GM Brian Cashman gambled on three guys who pitched a combined one inning in 2020. Jameson Taillon’s long history of injuries overshadowed his talent. Domingo German had not pitched since Sept. 18, 2019, serving an 81-game suspension under baseball’s domestic violence policy.
Kluber missed most of 2019 with a freak injury — a broken arm on a comebacker ― and all but an inning in 2020 after tearing a minor muscle in his right shoulder. The 35-year-old’s track record, however, had the Yankees outbidding teams like the Rays to sign him to a one-year, $11 million deal, believing he would be a steadying starter behind Cole.
Tuesday night, they got a glimmer of hope that things are turning around with Taillon, who went out and used the team’s losing streak as fuel to fire him up. Kluber couldn’t do the same against the Braves, but the Yankees desperately need to see him — and the rest of the rotation — get back on track.
