Yankees go from near comeback victory to seventh straight loss, their longest skid since 2023

NEW YORK (AP) — After their captain said focus was lacking, the New York Yankees went from the verge of a dramatic win to another frustrating loss and are on their worst skid in three years.

New York’s losing streak reached seven games with a 6-2 loss to the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday, when Camilo Doval forced in the go-ahead run with a bases-loaded walk to Spencer Torkelson in a four-run 11th inning.

Doval allowed four runs after the Yankees scored twice in the ninth on a homer by Amed Rosario and a wild pitch before Anthony Volpe was caught stealing second and rookie Spencer Jones popped out.

“Tough one going into the off day, but we got to get over it and start playing better baseball,” manager Aaron Boone said.

The Yankees are on their first seven-game skid since Aug. 12-23, 2023, when they lost nine straight and fell under .500 before finishing with 82 wins to keep alive their streak of 33 straight winning seasons. Similar to 2023, New York is struggling without Aaron Judge, who spoke before the game and said he felt the team's focus was missing.

In 2023, the Yankees went 19-23 while Judge was recovering from a fractured toe he sustained after crashing into a wall while making a catch at the Dodgers.

After Zack McKinstry followed Torkelson’s walk with a two-run single and another run scored on a throwing error by catcher Ali Sanchez, the Yankees dropped to 12-15 since losing Judge to a stress fracture in his right rib that has yet to be reevaluated.

New York won nine of its first 13 games without Judge but is hitting .137 in its seven-game slide. The Yankees are also batting .180 during a stretch of 11 losses in 13 games.

“I feel like we just got to lock in, do all the small stuff,” second baseman Jazz Chisholm said. “We make a lot of mistakes and I feel like we beat ourselves.”

New York ended a streak of five straight games without more than four hits, but five of their seven Wednesday were against relievers. Detroit’s trio of Casey Mize, Tarik Skubal and Troy Melton combined to allow two runs and four hits while striking out 26.

New York also has allowed 23 unearned runs and committed 17 errors in its last 12 games.

“It’s been a terrible week for us,” Boone said. “There’s no way of sugarcoating it and we’re capable of way more obviously. Look, you’re going to have stretches where it’s tough where you’re missing some guys, but this was a really difficult week for us offensively, and coupled with that not playing clean enough and taking care of the ball well enough, that’s what you get. You get an awful week.”

New York survived the early weeks of Judge’s absence because Ben Rice and Cody Bellinger were hot but both left-handed bats are slumping. Rice had one of the Yankees’ hits and is in a 9-for-54 slump while Bellinger has five hits in his last 46 at-bats.

“You want to contribute,” Bellinger said after going 0 for 5 with a pair of strikeouts. When you’re not succeeding, it’s very frustrating.”

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