In one agonizing play to end Sunday’s crushing finale against the Mets, the Yankees offered a snapshot to encapsulate a brutal road trip.
With runners on the corners and one out in a tie game, Tim Hill on the mound and the Yankees using a five-man infield, Carson Benge hit a chopper over the mound between Anthony Volpe and Max Schuemann.
The two collided, both going for the ball, costing them any chance of throwing out the runner at home as the Mets walked off with a 7-6 win at Citi Field.
It is impossible to know whether Schuemann or Volpe would have gotten the runner at the plate had either of them fielded it cleanly and without obstacles, but they never got to find out, ending a 2-7 trip against the Brewers, Orioles and Mets.
“Maybe, but we’re both just treating it do or die,” Volpe said. “That was the game.”
“I was just going to be aggressive. We have to be quick,” Schuemann said. “Tough play at the plate either way. I talked to Volpe about it, it’s just one of those things that we’re both going to be aggressive to that baseball no matter what. We both want to make a play.”
“It’s in no-man’s-land,” said manager Aaron Boone, who did not think the Yankees would have gotten Marcus Semien out at home even if the chopper had been fielded cleanly.
The Yankees had won nine of 12 series this season and tied in another before this road trip, when they dropped three straight series.
Four of their seven losses came by one run, giving them 10 on the season.
And two of those included walk-offs in games where David Bednar gave up a first-pitch home run on a curveball — last Sunday in Milwaukee, when Brice Turang walked him off, and this Sunday when Tyrone Taylor crushed a game-tying three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth when the Yankees were one out away from the win.
Now they finally return home for four games against the Blue Jays — the Yankees’ nemesis last season that crushed them in the ALDS — and three against the Rays, who swept the Yankees last month and lead the AL East.
“Couple [of] close games, but it’s just about finishing the job,” Aaron Judge said. “A couple games here where we got to close it out or some games in extras where we got to get a couple runs across and just don’t get the job done. The boys are playing hard though, that’s the biggest thing. Guys are playing tough and making the plays they need to, but just coming up a little bit short. We got to have a short memory and move on and get ready for the [homestand] because we got a big division opponent coming in.”
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A day after leaving 11 men on base, the Yankees stranded 10 more while going 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
They had still looked to be in good position to take the series by getting out to leads of 5-1 in the top of the sixth and 6-3 in the top of the seventh.
But it all came crashing down late, first in the bottom of the ninth, when Bednar capped off a rough trip for the bullpen.
He allowed back-to-back singles to lead off the frame, then got two outs before leaving a curveball over the plate to Taylor.
“Just not putting guys away early,” Bednar said. “Overall, that’s unacceptable, but especially in that spot, it’s just very frustrating.”
Then came the excruciating end.
After the Yankees pulled Schuemann in from left field with a runner on third, Hill hit Luis Torrens to bring up Benge.
Schuemann hovered as a third infielder on the right side, shaded just to the right of second base, and Benge chopped it between him and Volpe.
Schuemann picked it with his backhand but Volpe ran into him while also trying to make the play, preventing a throw, providing a fitting end for a forgettable trip.
“It’s very frustrating,” Schuemann said. “We’re a really good team. I think it’ll turn.”
