Aaron Boone sent a message about the Yankees after Sunday’s 15-2 loss at the Texas Rangers marked a new low for New York (15-14), which enters May tied with the Boston Red Sox for last place in the AL East.
“Prepare and compete,” Boone said following the Yankees’ third straight series loss and sixth defeat in eight games. “We’re obviously a little up against it right now, but we’ve got to keep on preparing and competing and realize we’re the ones that have got to dig ourselves out of this a little bit. We did have some good at -bats today, but we’ve got to find a way — missing some pieces and stuff — to scratch out some runs.
“It’s tough, when you fall behind like that, to work your way back. Thought we had some good at-bats to get back in the game, get our first run — (Adolis) Garcia makes a great throw where we almost cut the lead in half there and then who knows. But we’ve definitely got to find a way right now with some mixing and matching.”
To Boone’s point, the Yankees were without Giancarlo Stanton (on the 10-day IL with a left hamstring strain) and Aaron Judge (day to day, right hip strain) during a three-game stretch in which Texas (17-11) limited New York to four runs.
“I thought we finished well,” Boone said of Sunday’s ninth inning, where the Yankees overcame two outs to start the frame and scratched across a run on a bases-loaded walk before Aaron Hicks‘ game-ending strikeout. “Easy to mail that in. I thought the at-bats were there at the very end.
“I like some of the effort I saw when you’re up against it, but that’s what we’ve got to do right now — when you’re not overly offensive right now, those are the things that you’ve got to control is that level of compete. And we’re doing that and reminding these guys of that, and we’ve got to be the ones to turn it around.”
The Yankees have a quick turnaround as Monday’s 7:05 pm start against the 13-15 Cleveland Guardians begins a three-game series back home.
RHPs Domingo German (2-2, 5.54 ERA) and Cal Quantrill (1-2, 5.40 ERA) are the probable pitchers.