The offense did not show up again in the Yankees 2–1 loss to Toronto in Buffalo

The Yankees lost 2–1 to the Blue Jays at Sahlen Field in Buffalo but they had many opportunities to score more runs in this game. Their inept performance led to their 5th consecutive loss and their 15th loss in their last 20 games.

This futility in their last 20 games matches their worst 20-game span in the last 20 seasons, according to ESPN StatsInfo. They were also 5–15 in the 2016 season, which is somewhat understandable since they were rebuilding before getting better after calling up top prospects at the end of the season.

The Yankees started the season 16–6 and have basically fallen apart since then. Part of this is due to the injuries that they have had an part of it is due to the under performance of many players in the lineup and in the bullpen.

“It’s just been a tough stretch,” DJ LeMahieu said after the game about the team’s recent struggles. “Can’t put my finger on one thing. If we had the answers, we would have figured it out already … This team is too good to hold down for long.”

“I feel like teams aren’t really scared of us right now and it’s kind of a sad thing because we’re the New York Yankees,” Luke Voit said after the game. “I almost feel like it’s embarrassing for us right now.”

Voit was correct in his assessment regarding what the situation is like for the New York Yankees right now. In their last five games, the Yankees are 2–31 with runners in scoring position. It is hard to win when you don’t hit when runners are in scoring position, and this also means that the team is not hitting homers with runners on second or third.

Each of Yankees last eight homers going into Tuesday’s game were of the solo variety, meaning that nobody was on base. The last homer with runners on base was August 31 in a loss to the Rays (Voit hit a 2-run homer)

The Yankees left a total of five runners on base in the first three innings. They were 0–7 overall with runners in scoring position in this game and left a total of 10 runners on base, which is a sign of how much the team is struggling.

With two outs and runners on first and second in the 4th and a 3–2 count LeMahieu grounded out to shortstop (the shortstop made a great diving play) for another unsuccessful at-bat with runners on base. This means they left seven runners on base through four innings, which is not good.

In the top of the 5th, they had bases loaded with no outs and only scored one run. Most of the time a time will score at least three runs when the bases are loaded with no outs. Voit and Aaron Hicks both singled and Clint Frazier walked to start the inning, but then Gleyber Torres flied out without scoring Voit, Mike Tauchman hit just a sacrifice fly for the team’s first run of the game and then Gary Sanchez struck out swinging with the bases loaded to end the inning.

To end the game, Voit struck out on a 3–2 pitch from Blue Jays fill in closer Rafael Dolis, whose last played in the MLB in 2013 before this season. He had spent the last few seasons pitching in Japan and he has pitches really have a lot of movement.

In the bottom of the fifth, Sanchez dropped a routine pop up with Cavan Biggio batting in the fifth leading to a walk. His strikeout with the bases loaded could have contributed to that dropped pop up. However, Yankees starter J.A. Happ struck out three batters in the fifth, so that walk did not do any damage.

Happ had another strong and impressive pitching performance but it was not able to come in a win since the Yankees offense did not show up. Most of the time when a pitcher throws 6.1 innings and only allows two runs the pitcher and the team will get the win, but on Tuesday this did not happen.

Happ has now allowed two earned runs or less in three of his last four starts, which means he has really turned a corner. He likely will not be skipped again this season.

The veteran lefty, who used to pitch for the Blue Jays before being traded to the Yankees, struck out 10 batters, which was the first time he had double digit strikeouts this season. This was his first 10 strikeout game since May 25 of last season against the Kansas City Royals.

Happ now has a 4.31 ERA after his sixth start, which is much better than the 10.29 ERA he had after his second start and the 6.39 ERA he had after his third start.

Yankees have five losses in a row and are now .500 team. They are three games behind the Blue Jays (24–18) for second place in the AL East and now in sole possession 8th place in the American League, which is the final playoff seed this season. They are actually only half a game ahead of the surging Orioles for 8th place. Baltimore has won four games in a row, which includes winning three out of four against the Yankees in their previous series.

General Manager Brian Cashman’s pregame team meeting while he was watching the team in person in Buffalo did not go the way he wanted it to since the offense did not show up. It is rare that he attends an away game in person, so this proves that he really wanted to send a message to the team about their subpar performance.