TORONTO — The Yankees didn’t spend a day in first place in the AL East in 2016 and after Friday’s 9-0 loss to the Blue Jays, we know they’re never going to get there this year.
Their second straight defeat assured the Yankees can’t catch the Red Sox, so all that’s left is to see how much longer they can stay alive in the wild-card race.
The rout at the hands of Toronto also left the Yankees four games back of Detroit for the second wild-card spot. They also remained behind Baltimore, Seattle and Houston with just nine games to play.
“We had no chance to get the division after losing to Boston,” Dellin Betances said of the four-game sweep last weekend at Fenway Park. “That was our chance right there. Our focus is the wild card. We know it’s tough, but we’ll try to finish strong. That’s all you can do.”
It’s the fourth straight year the Yankees failed to win the AL East, their longest stretch since their long slumber ended more than two decades ago. And it’s the first time since 1997 that the Yankees didn’t spend a day of the season with at least a share of first.
Now that the team’s rebuilding phase seemingly has gone into full swing, the Yankees hope newcomers such as Gary Sanchez can get them back to keep this drought short.
“We’ve been trying to climb and climb,” Betances said. “It feels like the whole year’s been like that.”
In the meantime, the Yankees are trying to remain afloat with an odd mix of players such as Brett Gardner, one of the longest tenured Yankees, castoffs from other organizations such as Billy Butler, fill-ins such as Ronald Torreyes and pieces they would like to be contributors in the future, such as Bryan Mitchell.
Friday wasn’t a memorable night for any of them. Mitchell was hurt by some early-inning trouble, Butler was exposed as an inferior first baseman and the offense failed to generate anything for the second game in a row.
And just like Thursday against the Rays, the Yankees had opportunities to break through at Rogers Centre in Toronto.
After a two-out double by Sanchez in the first inning, Toronto left-hander Francisco Liriano walked a pair to load the bases, but Chase Headley struck out to end the threat.
Mitchell then loaded the bases in the bottom of the first with two outs, thanks in part to an error at first by Butler.
Troy Tulowitzki ripped a two-run single to left to give the Blue Jays a 2-0 lead and Toronto never looked back.
The Yankees’ Blake Parker coughed up four runs in the seventh to put the game out of reach.
But Ben Heller managed to add some drama in the eighth. After surrendering a two-run shot to Josh Donaldson, he got Encarnacion on a comebacker, but then drilled Jose Bautista with a pitch, prompting a warning from home plate umpire Tom Hallion.
No other fireworks erupted, but an agitated Joe Girardi cut short his postgame press conference after being questioned about his bullpen usage.
Asked why he stayed away from more experience arms such as Adam Warren when the game was still within reach in the seventh, the manager grew agitated.
“We have some issues [in the pen],” Girardi said. “We don’t have a starter Monday. I’m just trying to piece it all together. … I’m done. I’m done.”
Girardi left abruptly as reality sets in for a team that held up unexpectedly well while it shed and gained parts.
“As long as we’re mathematically in it, we’ll keep fighting,” Mark Teixeira said. “And even when we’re out of it, we’ll keep fighting — because that’s what we’re supposed to do. We knew the division was gonna be tough. Being eliminated doesn’t make us any more discouraged about the loss.”