There may come a time when the Yankees can look back on this and it will all seem funny.
Right now, however, there is nothing comical about the miserable start to their season that threatens to ruin it before April moves into May.
Thursday night’s torch job by the bullpen bridge from starter to Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller led to a 7-3 loss to the light-hitting A’s in front of an announced gathering of 33,818 disgruntled customers at Yankee Stadium.
The A’s danced out of The Bronx with a three-game sweep and left the Yankees 1-5 on a homestand that has three games left starting Friday night with the Rays.
“It’s definitely frustrating to get swept at home,’’ said Alex Rodriguez, who went 0-for-2, walked twice and scored a run. “We are not used to it and not something we accept.’’
On a night the Yankees improved their hitting in the clutch — they went 3-for-11 after starting the night 4-for-58 (.069) in the previous seven tilts with runners in scoring position — relievers Chasen Shreve and Johnny Barbato let them down.
Shreve took over for starter Luis Severino (two runs in six innings) in the seventh and the first two pitches were hit for homers by Khris Davis and Coco Crisp, who started the game hitting .174 and .158, respectively. Barbato gave up a two-run homer to Chris Coghlan in the eighth and Kirby Yates surrendered a run in the ninth.
“I believe we are going to turn it around,’’ said manager Joe Girardi, who can’t look at the horrific stretch that has landed his club in the AL East cellar and five games out of first place in any other light. A year ago the Yankees weren’t five games back until Sept. 28.
“Things aren’t going our way right now but that will turn,” Girardi said.
The question is when? They have scored just 18 runs in the past eight games, seven of which are losses. Cleanup hitter Mark Teixeira is 1-for-18. So, too, is Brian McCann, who entered Thursday night’s action in the seventh inning as a pinch hitter and whiffed twice. Chase Headley is 3-for-17.
“Hopefully we will look back in a few months and come together and be stronger because of it,’’ Brett Gardner said of the team-wide funk. “We have to keep our heads up and know better days are around the corner. Hopefully it’s this weekend.’’
Better days have to be out there somewhere because these days are best forgotten quickly.
From the time lefty Rich Hill, a Yankee briefly in 2014 who had to pitch for the Long Island Ducks last year before the Red Sox rescued him from the independent Atlantic League circuit, fanned Jacoby Ellsbury, Starlin Castro and Carlos Beltran in the first inning, it was clear the “Men Without Hats’’ were in for a struggle.
Two of their three hits with runners in scoring position were as soft as tissue paper. Aaron Hicks’ bloop single to center in the second scored a run and stopped a 0-for-17 slide. Austin Romine’s swinging bunt toward the third-base line accounted for the Yankees’ second run. Castro drove in a seventh-inning run that cut the deficit to 4-3 by hitting a 0-2 pitch to center.
The Yankees had two runners on and two outs in the ninth when Ryan Madson induced Beltran to ground out to the right side to end it.
“We will all click eventually,’’ said the rookie Barbato, who had a second consecutive costly outing. “And it will be dangerous when that happens.’’
Of course the question these days is not when but if.