'Got to do better': Gary's 6 RBIs for naught

NEW YORK -- Ahead of Friday’s series opener against the Orioles, Yankees manager Aaron Boone explained his decision to slot Gary Sánchez at the bottom of the lineup for the first time in his Major League career, stating: “We’ve got a potential wrecking machine in the No. 9 hole.”

In Sunday afternoon’s finale at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees saw just how much damage Sánchez could wreak. The 28-year-old catcher smacked his third career grand slam in the second inning, then added a two-run homer in the sixth to almost singlehandedly carry New York’s offense.

But not even his six RBIs and 15th career multihomer game could withstand the state of the club’s overworked bullpen, which lost key contributor Jonathan Loáisiga to the 10-day injured list that morning, in the Yankees’ 8-7 loss to the Orioles in the rubber match. New York saw its season-high seven-series winning streak at home snapped as it dropped a set to the O’s in the Bronx for the first time since the opening weekend of the 2019 season.

“Incredibly frustrating that we didn’t put our best foot forward in the past couple of days,” Boone said. “… We’ve got to do better. But the good thing is we hold the pen, we get to write the story still. And we’ve responded from tough days, tough moments, tough stretches, and we have to do it again.”

After Corey Kluber -- in his second start since coming off a three-month-long stint on the injured list -- went just 3 2/3 innings but contained the O’s to two runs on four hits and three walks, Boone turned to a bullpen that he admitted before the game was “a little bit thin.”

Though Joely Rodríguez and Wandy Peralta each pitched two-thirds of an inning cleanly, Albert Abreu and Andrew Heaney stumbled as the Yankees gave up six runs in the sixth and seventh. Chad Green, who Boone said was essentially the last available reliever, bailed the team out by managing to toss two perfect innings with three strikeouts in an efficient manner to close out the loss.

Abreu, who was called up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in a corresponding move for Loáisiga, allowed a two-run homer to Cedric Mullins in the sixth. Then Heaney, in his second appearance since moving from the rotation to the ‘pen, was charged with four runs on four hits and only managed to secure one out in the decisive seventh.

“[He] was the victim of some soft contact, but in the end, just couldn’t get out of the inning,” Boone said of Heaney. “It’s an important role down there, and he’s going to have to share some of that. [He’s] going to have to step up. He wants the ball, and he’s going to have to take advantage of another opportunity when he gets it.”

Sánchez’s six-RBI showing tied his career high, which also came against Baltimore on Apr. 7, 2019. It also made him just the fourth Yankee in franchise history to record at least six RBIs out of the No. 9 spot in the order since the stat became official in 1920; he joined Spud Chandler (July 26, 1940) with six and is behind only Joe Girardi (Aug. 23, 1999) and Vic Raschi (Aug. 4, 1953), who each had seven.

Sánchez now has three home runs in his past three starts, coming directly after a career-long homerless spell of 20 games.

“The whole year has been a [time] of hard work and making adjustments, especially at the plate.” Sánchez said through an interpreter. “Today I wanted to be aggressive with those pitches in the zone. Really good results there, and I just want to keep the pace going.”

After all three games against the Orioles were decided by one run, the Yankees have now played in 78 games this season that were determined by two runs or fewer -- the most such contests of any team in the Majors. They used five relievers on Friday, four on Saturday and five more on Sunday. That type of workload won’t be sustainable for long as New York continues a stretch of 20 games in 20 days, and the club knows it.

“[We have a] lot of confidence in the guys we do have down there, but obviously it’s a situation where … they’ve been leaned on a lot,” Boone said. “So we’ve got to spread it out with everyone, and everyone’s got to share the load and get it done.

“That’s been the hallmark of when we’ve been at our best this year; when we’ve been playing really good baseball is when everyone’s contributed. And we’re going to need to continue that through this difficult stretch we’re in now.”