TORONTO — Crossed signals and a communication breakdown were at the core of another Yankees loss at a crucial stage of the season, but after the game, Manager Joe Girardi sent a message that could not be misread.
The Yankees had just lost, 7-2, to the last-place Toronto Blue Jays, thanks in part to the sloppy play of their pitcher-catcher battery, leaving the Yankees perilously close to falling completely out of the playoff race.
But as the Yankees were washing away the sting of a sloppy defeat and packing their bags for a 10-game homestand, Girardi made a declaration that their season hangs in the balance of how they perform over the next week and a half.
“We have 29 games left,” Girardi said. “We’re playing some teams in our division, and we need to have a really good homestand.”
The trip that they just completed, however, was not good at all. They lost both series, to Tampa Bay and Toronto, and won only two of six games. With the Oakland Athletics thrashing the Tigers in Detroit on Wednesday, the Yankees fell five and a half games back in the chase for the second wild-card spot, with the Cleveland Indians and the Baltimore Orioles in front of them.
The Orioles come to Yankee Stadium on Friday to begin a three-game set, with C. C. Sabathia pitching the opener.
“We don’t have much room for error,” Derek Jeter said.
The chances of winning Wednesday night were diminished quickly when starter Hiroki Kuroda and catcher Chris Stewart got mixed up on their signals in the first inning, resulting in a bizarre two-run strikeout.
With runners on first and second and two outs and the Blue Jays already leading, 2-0, Kuroda threw a called strike three fastball to J. P. Arencibia, which should have ended the inning. But Stewart had called for a slider, a pitch that would have cut the opposite direction.
The ball bounced off Stewart’s glove and deflected wide of home plate as Arencibia sprinted toward first. Stewart retrieved the ball, but compounding the miscue, he fired toward first baseman Lyle Overbay when he did not have much chance of getting the out. The ball glanced off Arencibia and into foul territory, allowing both runners to score.
“It’s a big blow,” Stewart said. “Hopefully it’s the last one of the year, and I can keep my head on straight.”
But perhaps the most glaring concern of the night was the continuing struggles of Kuroda, the normally implacable starting pitcher who has fallen into a deep slump.
Kuroda had his third consecutive poor outing as he gave up seven runs, two of them unearned, thanks to the two-run strikeout play. He gave up a two-run double to Brett Lawrie before that play, and then surrendered a two-run homer to Edwin Encarnacion in the second.
In his last three starts, Kuroda is 0-3 with an 8.10 earned run average. This from a pitcher who had been the stalwart of the Yankees’ rotation, with a glimmering 2.33 E.R.A. before his recent poor stretch.
“Yeah, it’s surprising,” Brett Gardner said. “We’re so used to him going out and throwing up zeros and making it look easy. But he’s human.”
Girardi said he could not pinpoint a reason for Kuroda’s struggles and was willing to accept that Kuroda, 38, might be fatigued after throwing 1711/3 innings. Kuroda did not completely dismiss that notion, either.
“This time of the season there are a lot of innings thrown,” he said through his interpreter. “Those are issues I have to figure out. But I’ve experienced this before, so I have to regroup.”
Kuroda said his pitches are not moving as much as they normally do, and the hitters seem to have his timing down, too. The combination has been disastrous, as he has allowed 29 hits and 5 home runs in his last three outings, with the team’s pennant hopes fading.
“To not have my stuff at this point of the season is pretty frustrating,” he said.
And while Kuroda did not have his stuff Wednesday, the Yankees did not have their best player, or his backup. Robinson Cano, who was struck on the left hand by a pitch the night before, did not have any broken bones, but he was unable to play Wednesday. His hope is to return Friday.
“In my heart, I think he’s going to be in there,” Girardi said of Cano. “But if he’s not, we’ll have to deal with it.”
Cano’s normal backup, Eduardo Nunez, was supposed to fill in at second, but he was scratched from the lineup about 90 minutes before the first pitch because his knee was too stiff and sore after he twisted it Tuesday night. He is expected to have tests done in New York on Thursday.
That left Mark Reynolds, who had never started a game at second base, to eagerly accept the assignment, and he performed well, knocking out three hits, including a double, and driving in a run. Alex Rodriguez knocked in the other run.
Other than that, the game was a dismal loss, signaling desperate days ahead.
INSIDE PITCH
Joe Girardi said Phil Hughes, who has not been pitching well and has a record of 4-13, is still on schedule to make his next start, Sunday at Yankee Stadium against the Orioles.
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