The Yankees‘ ninth-inning collapse — Sunday’s 8-7 loss at the Miami Marlins — dropped New York (60-58) to 2-6 on its nine-game road trip, including consecutive series defeats, with the MLB-best Atlanta Braves up next as the final leg.
“It’s tough, it’s tough,” said Aaron Judge, who went 0-for-3 with two walks and one run. “But you’ve got to tip your cap sometimes. They worked some good at-bats against one of the better closers in the game and came up with some timely hitting when they needed it and ball just didn’t roll our way.
“If we’re one inch one way or the other, maybe we make a play and get out of that inning. But it didn’t happen that way, so we’ve go to learn from it and get ready for (Monday).”
Two-and-a-half games behind the Boston Red Sox (62-56) for last place in the AL East, the Yankees have not won a series since July 23 when they completed their three-game sweep of the lowly Kansas City Royals.
“We have to,” said Aaron Boone when asked of how New York moves past blowing a five-run lead to the Marlins (62-57). “We’re going to play a great team (Monday). We’ve got to be ready to go — period. We know we’ve got to rack up wins and, as tough as this one is to swallow, you’ve got to move on from it.”
Following a three-game set with the Braves starting Monday at 7:20 p.m. in Atlanta, the Yankees have a chance to gain ground against the Red Sox Friday through Sunday, but time is running out as New York enters this week five games out of the third AL Wild Card spot held by the Toronto Blue Jays (66-54).
“We have some games against our division, some teams we’re trailing,” said Clay Holmes. “They’ll be big games, and there’s definitely no sense like we’re defeated. At the same time, maybe there’s some sense of urgency that we know we need to put together some good baseball and start stringing together some wins.”