Yankees continue to fall apart, drop Saturday’s game 6-5 to Red Sox

Source: FanGraphs

It would be more depressing if it weren’t so predictable. Saturday afternoon the Yankees blew a three-run lead for the second time in three days, sending them to their fourth straight loss and sixth in the last seven games. In the most important stretch of the season, they’ve folded like a lawn chair. Saturday’s final score was 6-5 Red Sox. It’s Saturday, so let’s recap with bullet points.

• An Early Lead: Well, if nothing else, at least we know the Yankees have David Price’s number. They hung a five-spot on him Saturday thanks to a two-run home run by Gary Sanchez and a two-run double by Austin Romine. The Sanchez homer was mighty impressive. Price gave him a fastball down and in and Sanchez hooked it over the Green Monster. Pretty cool. The Yankees scored those five runs on nine hits in six innings against Price.
• Another Short Start: Man, Bryan Mitchell was one pitch away from a really nice start. It could have been two runs in five innings, but instead it goes in the books as four runs in 4.2 innings. For shame. Xander Bogaerts hit Mitchell’s final pitch over the Monster for a two-run home run to cut New York’s lead to 5-4. Mitchell missed his spot by the full width of the plate, but still, Bogaerts somehow managed to keep this …

  … fair for a home run. Not even mad. I’m impressed. Sanchez is the only player on the Yankees who could hit that pitch out of the park. Maybe Starlin Castro. That’s it. Mitchell allowed four runs (three earned) on five hits and a walk in his 4.2 innings. He fanned three. Good start, bad finish.

• The Latest Bullpen Meltdown: It really felt like only a matter of time until the bullpen blew the lead, didn’t it? Five of the nine batters Luis Severino faced reached base, and one of the outs was a bunt. He was charged with the tying run after allowing a double to Bogaerts, then Mookie Betts hit a chopper over Didi Gregorius’ head against Adam Warren. The winning run scored on a wild pitch. Runner on third with one out is a Tyler Clippard situation because he’s a strikeout/pop-up pitcher. It wasn’t his assigned inning though. Alas. So in came Warren and his put the ball in play approach. Shocked it backfired. Shocked, I tell you.
• No Late Offense: None one of the final 13 Yankees to bat hit the ball out of the infield. Brett Gardner drew a leadoff walk in the seventh and was thrown out stealing second for some stupid reason. Just let Sanchez hit with a man on base. First base is already scoring position with him. Romine was stranded at third after his double against Price too. Rob Refsnyder struck out with a man on third and one out for the fourth time in his last three games. Brutal.
• Leftovers: Both Jacoby Ellsbury (knee) and Castro (hamstring) left the game hurt and there’s a decent chance their seasons are over. Both are going back to New York for tests … Gregorius and Romine were the only Yankees with multiple hits. Romine was allowed to hit for himself against Craig Kimbrel in the ninth even though Brian McCann was available to pinch-hit … Refsnyder went 0-for-3 with three strikeouts overall … New York’s postseason odds have nosedived from 18.2% to 2.2% in seven days, per FanGraphs.

Here are the box score, video highlights, and updated standings. Assuming either the Orioles or Blue Jays win tonight, the Yankees will be five games back of the second wildcard spot with 14 games to play. Here are our Bullpen Workload and Announcer Standings pages. CC Sabathia and Drew Pomeranz will be on the mound in the series finale Sunday. That’s the ESPN Sunday Night Game. ESPN still thinks the Yankees are relevant, apparently.