As Gleyber Torres prepared for his first game back at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday, the Tigers’ second baseman said that he didn’t harbor any ill will for his former employer.
“I know it’s a business,” Torres said when asked if was disappointed that the Yankees didn’t extend him an offer in free agency this past offseason. “I’m always gonna be grateful for the opportunity.
“To wear the pinstripes was an honor for me.”
Torres, who joined the Yankees organization as a 19-year-old in 2016, added that he was “really happy” to be back in the Bronx before going 1-for-3 with a double, an RBI and two walks in a 12-2 Tigers win on Tuesday.
The 28-year-old went on to jumpstart Detroit’s offense on Wednesday, as Torres’ two-run single in the fifth inning broke a scoreless tie in what became an 11-1 loss for the Yankees, whose bullpen imploded for the second straight night. Things got so bad that outfielder Austin Slater had to record the last two outs; he was the only Yankees reliever who didn’t allow a run despite maxing out at 42.4 mph.
“That just obviously got away from us there,” Aaron Boone said after his pen combined for nine earned runs in back-to-back games, a franchise first, per Stathead’s Katie Sharp.
Defeated in another blowout, the Yankees are now 80-65 on the season. The Blue Jays and Red Sox also lost on Wednesday, so the Yankees, three games behind Toronto, didn’t lose ground in American League East standings.
Torres came up clutch with the bases loaded in the fifth after Carlos Rodón allowed a single, issued a walk, and hit a batter with one out. The latter two results came against Detroit’s Nos. 8 and 9 hitters, Parker Meadows and Javier Báez, giving Rodón a reason to kick himself toward the end of an otherwise solid start.
“I just gotta be better there in that situation,” the lefty said after totaling six innings, five hits, two earned runs, one walk, six strikeouts and 102 pitches.
The Tigers plated another run in the seventh inning when Torres grounded out with two runners in scoring position and Camilo Doval on the mound. Mark Leiter Jr. had previously been called for a runner-advancing wild pitch after one of his offerings got stuck in Austin Wells’ chest protector.
Doval went on to initiate the Yankees’ latest bullpen meltdown, as he served up a two-run homer to Riley Greene in the eighth. A Dillon Dingler double then turned into three bases thanks to a Cody Bellinger error before Meadows picked up an RBI single off Tim Hill.
Kerry Carpenter followed with a two-run homer.
With the Yankees’ bullpen faltering again — Luke Weaver also surrendered three runs in the ninth, including a Colt Keith homer — Boone said, “this is two days” when asked about the unit’s struggles.
However, Yankees relievers have 4.40 ERA this season. That ranks 22nd in the majors, and the number is over 5.00 since the All-Star break.
Still, Boone expressed confidence in the group while downplaying the latter sample size.
Asked why, the manager said, “Track record, stuff, who they are. Obviously, we gotta get a couple guys on track so we create that depth that we can have down there. A bullpen ERA in short samples like that can be a little misleading, like when you have a handful of games where it really gets away and it gets blown up. I feel like through this stretch of games, where over the last month we started winning, we’ve closed out a lot of good games, too, with guys capable of shutting people down.
“This is what we have. I’ve had a lot of confidence in their ability and their stuff, but we got to bring it together, and we haven’t done that consistently enough yet. Can we do it? That’s what we’re going to find out. That’s what we’re going to need to do if we’re going to make a big run at this.”
While the Yankees’ pen stumbled again, their lineup laid a goose egg against Jack Flaherty.
The veteran right-hander entered Wednesday’s game with a 4.85 ERA overall and a 6.68 ERA over his last six starts, but that didn’t stop him from throwing five scoreless innings.
Flaherty also held the pinstripers to two hits while walking one and striking out seven over 99 pitches.
“We just didn’t mount much,” Boone said. “We gotta create some traffic for ourselves, and that was a challenge for us tonight.”
The Yankees had two men on and one out against Flaherty in the third, but Aaron Judge grounded into a double play. He did the same in the sixth inning.
All in all, the Yankees grounded into three double plays. Meanwhile, they’ve been outscored in the series, 23-3.
“They’ve done a good job of mixing,” said Wells, who hit a solo homer in the eighth. “We’ve had some hard balls right at guys that have turned into double plays or inning-ending plays. We’ve hit the ball hard and we’ve turned the lineup over, but we just haven’t had a lot of results with it.”
With their bullpen embarrassed and their offense rather lifeless in the first two games of this series, the Yankees will try to salvage their three-game set against the first-place Tigers on Thursday.
Detroit had yet to announce a starter for the series finale at the time of publication.
Cam Schlittler is scheduled to start for the Yankees. The rookie is coming off the worst performance of his young career, as he only lasted 1.2 innings against the Blue Jays his last time out.
Now he’ll try to help his team avoid a sweep.
“These nights are frustrating, obviously,” Boone said, “but it’s that time of year. We gotta get over it and get ready for tomorrow.”