The misfiring Yankees continued to sputter on Sunday afternoon in the Bronx, dropping the rubber game of a three-game 11-1 to the mediocre Cleveland Indians to lose their fifth series in their last six.
Harold Ramirez recorded four RBI for Cleveland while Jose Ramirez added another three as the Yankees failed to make up ground in the Wild Card race. A victory on Sunday by the Toronto Blue Jays ensured New York’s deficit outside the playoff picture grew to two games.
It was an even more spectacular failure when considering the Yankees called on their ace, Gerrit Cole, to stop the bleeding of a stretch that now has seen the Bronx Bombers go 7-14 over their last 21 games.
Cole was rocked for seven runs on 10 hits over 5.2 innings pitched — and the issues started immediately.
Harold Ramirez drove in a pair of runs with a single in the first inning before his fly ball in the third could not be reeled in by the converging Aaron Judge and Brett Gardner in left-center field, scoring another pair to make it 4-0. Roberto Perez put Cleveland up five with a single two batters later.
Gio Urshela provided the lone run of the day for the Yankees with a solo home run, his 13th of the. year, in the bottom of the third. But Cole couldn’t keep it close.
Jose Ramirez socked his 35th home run of the season in the fifth before Perez added another solo shot in the sixth to put the Indians out of sight at 7-1 and spelling an end to Cole’s disappointing day.
Cleveland added on with RBI singles from Yu Chang RBI single in the seventh and Jose Ramirez in the eighth.
Now facing a multi-game deficit outside of the playoff picture, the fourth-place Yankees are in must-win territory as they prepare for a three-game set against the lowly Texas Rangers before a monstrous meeting with the Boston Red Sox.
