The Yankees ace is no longer pitching like an ace.
The lineup has gone silent, scoring 20 runs in the past eight games and being no-hit into the sixth inning on Sunday.
And the seemingly daily folly appeared in a ninth inning in which a disappointing game became an ugly one.
As their own play finished and they awaited around-the-league results, the Yankees were six games behind the Blue Jays in the division but remained in playoff position with the Guardians’ loss.
On a beautiful afternoon for baseball in The Bronx, the bright blue sky looked a little closer than usual to the 43,658 on hand. It might very well be falling.
The Yankees dropped a third straight series behind a shaky Max Fried and a shakier offense as their nose dive continued with a 7-1 loss to the Astros.
What has become clear is the Yankees (62-56) are in desperate need of something.
They lack a stopper because their first-half stopper has not been able to stop the bleeding.
Fried allowed four runs on eight hits and a walk in five eventful innings. The lefty, who held a 1.92 ERA through June, owns a 6.00 ERA in his past seven starts.
He allowed a first-inning homer to the boo-silencer Jose Altuve, gave up another run when Jasson Domínguez misplayed a double off the wall from Christian Walker, which allowed a run to score, and could not bounce back from adversity in the fifth.
In the frame, the Astros loaded the bases with two outs for Cam Smith, who laid off a 2-2 four-seamer that appeared to be a strike to everyone except plate umpire Derek Thomas (who already had tossed manager Aaron Boone).
Fried, in disbelief, then threw a full-count sinker that Smith lifted over first baseman Ben Rice’s glove for a two-run double into the right field corner.
A 4-0 deficit feels awfully steep for the Yankees these days because they also lack much punch.
Their best chance arrived against the Houston bullpen in the seventh, when Jazz Chisholm Jr. (single), Giancarlo Stanton (pinch-hit single) and Anthony Volpe (walk) loaded the bases with one out.
The Astros turned to fireballer Bryan Abreu, who watched Ryan McMahon swing at a 3-1 pitch and loft a sacrifice fly to left-center. Austin Wells then flied out, a rare rally over too soon on a day the Yankees finished with three hits.
In hits tallied, the Yankees definitely experienced shrinkage against Jason Alexander.
The journeyman 32-year-old, who entered with a 5.97 ERA, took a no-hitter into the sixth before Rice drove a clean, one-out single to left — and was immediately erased on a double play from Aaron Judge.
Judge — whose presence in the lineup typically forces Stanton to sit because of Judge’s flexor strain in his elbow — went 0-for-3 with a walk and is amid a poorly timed slump, 7-for-43 (.163) with two home runs and 17 strikeouts in his past 13 games.
Lacking the team’s engine, the Yankees have stalled.
And during a season that has lacked clean play too often, the embarrassing portion of the day came in the ninth.
During an inning when Houston scored three, Altuve reached third and Christian Walker was on second, so the Yankees brought the infield in. Ramón Urías then hit a bloop that in normal circumstances would have easily caught by Volpe, but his positioning allowed the ball to drop in shallow left. As the ball hit grass, Altuve took off from third, and Cody Bellinger had a play at the plate — but the ball appeared to slip out of his hand and traveled just a few feet toward third base.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
