The New York Yankees lost their ninth consecutive game Tuesday night, falling to 60-65 on the season in a 2-1 loss against the Washington Nationals at Yankee Stadium.
The nine-game losing streak puts the team in their deepest slump in over four decades. The Yankees last won a game on August 11 against the Miami Marlins.
No player on the Yankees’ active roster was alive when the team last lost nine games in a row from September 13 to 21, 1982.
A sputtering offense was once again at fault Tuesday, as the Yankees’ batters mustered only two hits in the game, both coming from Ben Rortvedt, including a solo home run. The Bronx Bombers have mustered up six hits or fewer six times during their skid.
Home runs from Washington’s Carter Kieboom and CJ Abrams were enough to claim victory for the Nats.
The losing streak has seen the 27-time World Series champions slide to the bottom of the American League East standings and 10 games off the final wild card spot.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone admitted after the game that morale on the team is low.
“You work hard to put yourself in a position to shake hands at the end of the day, and when you get beat over and over again and you’re in the middle of a tough season, it makes it hard,” Boone told the media.
“But you gotta fight that feeling and get your ass back here tomorrow ready to compete. But it’s no fun walking in that locker room getting beat every night.”
With their sub-.500 mark, the Yankees haven’t had a losing record this many games into a season since 1992.
According to Elias Sports Bureau, New York’s last 10-game losing streak was May 21 to June 6, 1913, when the team was in the first year of being known as the Yankees and shared the Polo Grounds with the then New York Giants.
Yankees starter Carlos Rodón, who allowed just one run over six innings pitched Tuesday, addressed the losing streak after the game.
“It’s definitely unsettling, it’s not where we want to be,” Rodón – who had returned to the starting line-up on Tuesday following a 15-day absence – said to reporters.
“The Nationals are still a good baseball club, but we didn’t get the job done. It’s been nine in a row like you said. I think it’s one of those things where we have to look ahead to tomorrow, we’ve got another game.”
The Yankees will play the Nationals two more times at home on Wednesday and Thursday before traveling to Florida to begin a weekend series against the Tampa Bay Rays.
