Carlos Rodon blew a kiss to a fan. Tommy Kahnle destroyed a fan, the stationary kind.
And they weren’t even part of the Yankees’ biggest problem on a 1-5 road trip before they flew home Thursday.
The beginning of what Brian Cashman described as a second-half “sprint” began with the Yankees falling flat on their faces, thanks in large part to their miserable offense.
Stuck in last place in the AL East as losers of nine of their last 11, they will host the Royals for three games, starting Friday and attempt to end their tailspin before it is too late.
“This doesn’t feel good when you’re getting your teeth kicked in and you have a bad road trip or you’re going through a tough stretch” manager Aaron Boone said. “But we gotta deal with it. We gotta acknowledge where we’re at and come ready to compete our [butt] off on Friday and believe that’s the day we turn it around. If it’s not, we’ll keep going. That’s the focus.”
For now, the Yankees are still above .500 (50-47) and will have a chance to stay that way with their next two series against sub-.500 teams — beginning with the Royals, who own the second-worst record in the majors.
Of course, each of their last three series have come against teams that entered under .500 — the middling Cubs, last-place Rockies and reeling Angels — and the Yankees came away just 2-7 during that stretch, capped off by being swept by the Angels.
“This group, we get punched in the face and we get back up,” said Rodon, who hasn’t helped the cause in his last two starts. “Get back on the saddle and see what happens on Friday,”
After the Royals, the Yankees will host the Mets for a two-game Subway Series before facing much stiffer competition in the Orioles and Rays leading into the Aug. 1 trade deadline, when Cashman will presumably try to add some help unless they give him reason not to buy.
The Yankees are banking on getting Aaron Judge back soon from his sprained right big toe — they are 15-22 since he last played — possibly around the same time that Nestor Cortes returns to the rotation and Jonathan Loaisiga to the bullpen from the IL.
They keep talking about what they could be when healthy, but they have to get going on their own before then.
“There is excitement of what’s potentially on the horizon and what that could look like down the stretch, but it’ll all be moot if we don’t start playing better,” Boone said.
The three scheduled starters for the Royals this weekend are three pitchers with ERAs north of 5.00, which is exactly the kind of arms that have feasted on the Yankees recently.
Over the Yankees’ last nine games, they have been shut down by Jameson Taillon (who entered with a 6.93 ERA), Austin Gomber (6.40), Chase Anderson (6.89), Griffin Canning (4.62), Patrick Sandoval (4.41) and Chase Silseth (5.30).
Those five starters have combined to give up just six earned runs across 37 ²/₃ mostly dominant innings.
In the Angels series alone, the Yankees offense struck out 42 times, one shy of the franchise record for a three-game series.
It was not quite the stirring start to the Sean Casey era that the Yankees had hoped for when firing hitting coach Dillon Lawson at the All-Star break.
“We know that what we’re doing now is not acceptable and it’s obviously frustrating,” said Anthony Volpe, who is 4-for-45 over his last 12 games. “But I don’t think anyone’s shying away from that.”
After the finale on Wednesday, Boone conceded that the Yankees “stink right now,” but continued to express belief that the Yankees have the players in their clubhouse capable of turning it around.
That capability alone, though, has not done much good for the Yankees for the better part of two months.
“It’s hard when you’re going through it and you have a number of guys that are struggling,” Boone said.
“But I also know at their core — and certainly I experienced that at my core [as a player] — you know what you’re capable of. We gotta pull it out.”
