Yankees Start Second Half With Lifeless Loss Against Red Sox

NEW YORK — The Yankees began an audition on Friday night, trying to play through a COVID-19 outbreak and prove to managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner and general manager Brian Cashman that this fourth-place team should be a buyer at the Trade Deadline.

If New York's lifeless performance and shutout loss against the Boston Red Sox was any indication, then this team isn't going to get the part.

A lineup without Aaron Judge and Gio Urshela (COVID-19 injured list)—as well as Luke Voit (left knee inflammation)—managed to scatter just three hits, starting the second half of the regular season as flat as they've looked all year long.

Left-hander Jordan Montgomery worked around a slow start to keep his club in the game. The starter allowed three runs early, but settled down to finish his outing effectively and efficiently.

Nonetheless, a quality start from Montgomery meant absolutely nothing with no run support. It's the fifth straight start for the southpaw where the offense hasn't scored a single run behind him.

Yankees haven't scored a run while Jordan Montgomery is pitching in over a month... pic.twitter.com/0gF4Ymba4c
— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) July 17, 2021

New York had a runner on third base just twice on Friday night. A strikeout from outfielder Tim Locastro in the fifth ended a threat and a broken-bat groundout on the first pitch of Hoy Jun Park's big-league career (coming on as a pinch-hitter) took the life out of a two-out rally in the seventh.

As much as the bats of Judge and Urshela were missed—two of the Yankees' six players to test positive for COVID-19—it's hard not to wonder if it would've mattered. The five regulars left in the starting lineup—Giancarlo Stanton, DJ LeMahieu, Gary Sánchez, Gleyber Torres and Brett Gardner—combined to go 1-for-19 at the plate with seven strikeouts.

Stanton was 0-for-4 with three strikeouts and a double play. He was bombarded with boos in the eighth as he struck out for the third time.

Giancarlo Stanton is booed ~loudly~ as he walks back to the dugout after another strikeout.

Stanton is 0-for-4 tonight with three strikeouts and a double play.
— Max Goodman (@MaxTGoodman) July 17, 2021

New York is now 0-7 to start the season against the Red Sox, the team that's cruising atop the American League East. These are must-win games as the Yankees continue to dig themselves deeper into a hole in the standings, lifting up the club they need to be defeating.

With the COVID positive players expected to miss 10-plus days, no clear timetable for Voit's return from the IL and others (like Clint Frazier, Miguel Andújar, Darren O'Day and Corey Kluber) still sidelined, it'll take a complete reversal from this battered bunch of Bombers to bring this team closer to Boston.

The clock is ticking, though. Cashman said weeks ago that it'll take a stretch where New York starts to "fall like a stone" to turn this team into a seller at the Deadline. They're not there yet, but with July 30 looming, and the odds stacked heavily against this group, New York has no time to waste.

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