The AL East-leading Blue Jays extended their lead to four games over the Yankees with their 11th straight home win at Rogers Centre - five of those at the Yanks' expense.
TORONTO – One major flaw in the Yankees’ pursuit of first place is that they keep going to pieces here.
Whether its roof is open or closed, or if it were stuck somewhere in between, Rogers Centre has become the Yanks’ private dungeon, and the Blue Jays hold sway.
A wobbly Carlos Rodon kept teetering on the edge, but the Yanks’ starter deserved a better fate in Toronto’s four-run fifth inning.
Consecutive, two-out throwing errors by Oswald Peraza and Anthony Volpe plated two extra runs, advancing the Blue Jays toward a 4-1 victory before 41,788 fans.
“It’s been here. We’ve got to play better,’’ Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of defensive lapses being “a contributor to us not finishing off some games.’’
Since June 30, that’s five straight wins by the AL East-leading Blue Jays over the second place Yanks, now trailing by four games – their largest deficit of the year.
Out of the All-Star break, Toronto (59-41) has won four in a row, and they’ve set a franchise record with 11 consecutive home wins, a streak that included a four-game sweep of the Yanks (55-45) just 19 days ago.
“Yeah, it’s frustrating,’’ Volpe said of the Yankees’ more-distant view of first place at the season’s 100-game mark.
“When we play at our best, I think everything will take care of itself, regardless,’’ said Volpe, reminiscent of a tune Boone has carried during the club’s 14-20 record since June 13.
"It's been a month now where we haven't been at our best,'' said Boone, who watched Toronto starter Kevin Gausman pitch seven strong innings, yielding just a solo homer to the red-hot Giancarlo Stanton.
"We need to start playing better consistently, putting wins in the win column. That's all we can really worry about,'' said Boone. "If we do that...we'll be where we want to be. But we've got to do a better job of that.''
Yankees sunk by fifth inning lapses
On Tuesday night, the Yanks will send promising Cam Schlittler out for his second MLB start against future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer, then it's ace lefty Max Fried - coming off a blister issue - starting Wednesday's series finale.
But as GM Brian Cashman recently said: “Hopefully I can fix what ails us, because there’s some areas on this team that need fixing,’’ which means a boost to the rotation and the bullpen, and a third base solution.
After Bo Bichette’s two-run double off Rodon in the fifth, Monday night’s trouble was compounded after a 14-pitch at-bat to Davis Schneider resulted in the inning’s second out.
At third base, Peraza played the speedy Myles Straw’s grounder into a run-scoring error when he threw wide of first base, allowing Bichette to score.
A moment later, Straw scored from second on Volpe’s 12th error, highest among AL shortstops, when his throw on a Leo Jimenez’s grounder was thrown away.
Boone termed those as plays “you’ve got to make, especially against a team playing as well as they are in this building.
"It's a few too many (errors),'' Boone said of Volpe, though he's "not so worried about it...he's still making a lot of plays, but he hasn't been as consistent as he wants to be, and as consistent as he normally is.''
Peraza said through an interpreter that he “rushed through’’ the play, and that his positioning “wasn’t the best. I ‘ve got to make that.’’
Volpe said he’s spoken regularly with infield coach Travis Chapman about improving his inconsistent defense this year, with pregame work toward that aim.
“Anytime you get a ball hit to you, you expect it to be an out,’’ said Volpe, adding that he's fine physically. “When that doesn’t happen, it’s frustrating.’’
But the five walks issued by Rodon over his five innings didn’t help matters, twice forcing him to escape bases loaded jams – he also yielded six hits, three for extra bases – before the fateful fifth.
“They strung together some good at-bats,’’ said Rodon. “They’re playing good baseball now,’’ and few know it better than the Yankees.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Yankees stumble their way to another loss at Toronto
Category: Baseball
