The New York Yankees suffered a 5-0 shutout loss to the dominant Braves on Tuesday night, bringing their season record to 60-60. This is the deepest into the season that the Yankees have been at or below .500 since September 1995.
This game highlighted the ongoing struggles of Yankees pitcher Luis Severino, who allowed five runs (three earned) in four innings with five strikeouts, two walks, and two home runs. Severino’s ERA for the season now stands at 7.98. His biggest downfall continues to be the first inning, as he allowed three runs in the opening frame on Tuesday, raising his first-inning ERA to 14.79 for the year. This marks the fourth consecutive outing in which Severino has given up more runs than innings pitched.
On the other side, Bryce Elder and two Atlanta relievers stifled the struggling Yankee lineup, which heavily relies on reigning AL MVP Aaron Judge. The Yankees only managed one hit in the game, a second-inning single by DJ LeMahieu. Judge drew two walks.
Interestingly, the Yankees committed more fielding errors (two) than hits in this game. Additionally, as Russ Gardiner points out, they made MLB history by hitting into four or more double plays while recording only one hit. This feat was facilitated by the Braves pitchers issuing five walks. Over the first two games of the interleague series, the Braves have outscored the Yankees 16-3.
The Yankees reached their peak this season on June 4 with a record of 11 games over .500, but then their performance declined. In June, they went 11-12, followed by a 10-15 record in July. So far in August, they have a record of 5-9. This puts them in danger of having their first losing season since 1992. Our Mike Axisa recently discussed the series of decisions and unfortunate events that led to the Yankees’ current low point.
If there is any hope for the Yankees moving forward, it can be found in history, specifically in the 1995 season. After being 60-60 and then falling to 60-61, the ’95 Yankees, under Buck Showalter, finished the regular season with a strong 19-4 run and secured a postseason spot as a wild-card team. As for the current Yankees, they currently sit in last place in the competitive AL East. Their chances look slightly better in the wild-card race, where they trail the final wild-card spot by 6 ½ games and are behind three other teams. It will likely require a strong finish similar to the one in 1995 for them to secure a postseason berth for the seventh consecutive year.
