The Yankees began a stretch Monday night during which they’ll play all but three of their final 20 games against teams in playoff contention.
If many more go like their 8-2 loss to the Dodgers in The Bronx, the Yankees won’t be in the conversation much longer. The defeat dropped them to five back of Boston in the AL East and kept them two behind Baltimore for the second wild-card spot.
With a sizable — and loud — contingent of Dodgers fans at Yankee Stadium, Los Angeles knocked around Bryan Mitchell, who was making just his second start in the majors of the season after suffering a fractured toe this spring.
And then Chase Utley hit a ball into the gap in right-center field with two on and two out in the second inning.
Aaron Judge and Jacoby Ellsbury charged toward each other, and Judge was unable to make the play — after calling late for the ball — and the ball dropped from his glove.
Both runners scored on the three-base error, and Utley came around on a single by Corey Seager. The Yankees never recovered.
“It’s tough,” Judge said. “Mitchell was out there grinding, and I just didn’t make the play for him. I’m always trying to make the play, but I just didn’t that time.”
No one else did much right, either. The Yankees scored on a pair of homers — one from Starlin Castro and a moonshot into the left-field bleachers by Judge — but they were no match for the NL West-leading Dodgers.
Brett Gardner was in left field, meaning he had a good view of the large contingent of Dodgers’ fans down the left-field line, an odd sight at Yankee Stadium.
“They’ve got a pretty good following,” Gardner said. “I was aware of them.”
And it’s not something you see in The Bronx often especially with the team vying for a playoff berth.
“It’s unusual,’’ Gardner said. “Even playing the Red Sox, they don’t have as big a following or as rowdy.”
But Gardner thought it could be something this young team could learn from.
“It was a good atmosphere,” Gardner said. “If we’re gonna play well down the stretch and get back into the postseason, like we aspire to do, we’ve got to play well in that kind of atmosphere, whether it’s here at the Stadium or on the road. We’ve just got to win.”
And unlike his season debut against the Blue Jays last Wednesday — when he tossed five shutout innings — Mitchell was a mess Monday as the Yankees dropped their second straight following a seven-game winning streak.
Mitchell surrendered six runs on eight hits in just 2 ¹/₃ innings although four of the runs were unearned and the Dodgers had some soft hits.
Still, the right-hander was far from effective and the bullpen was saved a bigger hit thanks to four no-hit innings from Richard Bleier.
Before the game, Joe Girardi said he was confident Mitchell would perform well, but he warned that facing the lefty-heavy lineup would be a challenge for the right-hander.
Mitchell coughed up a run in the first, three in the second and two more in the third before his night was over.
“I have to try to put guys away a little more,” Mitchell said. “They’re free-swinging and put a lot of pitches in play. I was on the wrong end of a lot of those balls.”
And on the wrong end of Judge’s mistake — although Gardner stood up for his fellow outfielder.
“Judge ran a long ways to go get it, and a lot of guys aren’t even getting a glove on it,’’ Gardner said. “It led to [three] unearned runs and the game kind of got out of hand from that point. Offensively, we didn’t do a whole lot. Collectively, it was a down night.”