BOSTON — Well, the good news is the Yankees have found a solution for their problems with runners in scoring position: Put fewer runners in scoring position.
Yes, the Yankees’ offense is getting worse — in tandem with their chances of climbing out of this extended funk. Their latest face plant occurred Saturday night at Fenway Park, with their fourth straight loss, 8-0 to the Red Sox, dropping them to a new low-water mark of 8-14 for the season in about the ugliest manner possible.
With April in the books, the Yankees rank last in the major leagues with 74 runs scored. Good grief.
“It’s kind of the same thing every night,” Brett Gardner said. “I don’t have a whole lot new for you.”
No worries, we’ve got some stuff: The Yankees haven’t been six games below .500 in Joe Girardi’s nine seasons as manager. They last hit this low on June 5, 2007, when they were 25-31. They proceeded to finish 94-68 and win the American League wild-card spot, so again … don’t write them off quite yet.
However, the 2007 Yankees fielded a lineup filled with stud hitters at least near their prime (including AL Most Valuable Player Alex Rodriguez) and arose from an early slumber. Concerns existed about this 2016 lineup from spring training, and the first calendar month profoundly heightened those concerns.
“I still believe that, with the guys that we have, we are capable of playing well and performing to the level we all know we can perform,” said Carlos Beltran, another player experiencing his prime in 2007, though with the Mets. “Right now, everyone is cold.”
Cold and getting colder, it seems. On Saturday night, against Boston right-hander Rick Porcello (seven innings) and relievers Robbie Ross Jr. and Junichi Tazawa (one inning apiece), the Yankees, en route to a meager five hits and one walk, placed a grand total of two runners in scoring position. Both men — Brian McCann in the second inning and Didi Gregorius in the fifth — reached the seemingly forbidden area with two outs. The Yankees faltered both times, with Gregorius hitting into a fielder’s choice the first time and Jacoby Ellsbury grounding out to second base the second time, making them 0-for-2 on the night.
On Friday night in a 4-2 loss, the Yankees went 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position. That 1-for-5 was the same as Wednesday night in Texas, a 3-2 loss, and virtually the same as Tuesday night in Texas, 1-for-4 in a 10-1 loss.
Add them up, and you get 3-for-16. If you want to focus on the three hits — all of them singles, adding insult to insult — go right ahead. The 16 arguably marks the greater danger.
“It’s obviously a lot harder to score if you don’t get anyone on,” Girardi said. “But the bottom line is we’re not putting up runs. So whether you get them and don’t score or you’re not getting them on at all, it’s still frustrating.”
Frustrating, sure. Yet when you get a lot of guys on and can’t convert, you also can derive some encouragement. Whereas you can’t from this current slide. Starting pitcher Michael Pineda had little chance as he somehow limited the Red Sox to two runs in five tense innings before Boston blew the game open against the middle relievers.
This campaign is starting to feel like a repeat of 2014, when a gaggle of veteran hitters — including Beltran and his 2016 teammates McCann and Mark Teixeira — underperformed and the Yankees missed the playoffs.
This run has been so awful that hitting coach Alan Cockrell, besieged by media interview requests, spoke before the game in a coordinated media session. Like an umpire, a hitting coach never wants to get besieged by media interview requests.
“I think the mentality of our guys, I think the confidence of our guys, I don’t think it’s waned,” Cockrell vowed. “I think everybody’s feeling very confident and positive as we move forward.”
As long as they move forward, then sure, the Yankees will build up confidence. At the moment, however, Cockrell’s unit is moving decidedly backward. And dragging the entire team with them.