The Yankees expected to get a big jolt this month with the return from the disabled list of Mark Teixeira and Kevin Youkilis. Yet one day after Youkilis went back on the DL with a recurring lumbar ailment, Teixeira came out of Saturday’s game against the Angels in the fourth inning because of stiffness in his right wrist.
Teixeira flied out to right field and fouled out to third base in his two at-bats. David Adams took over at first base in the bottom of the fourth. Yanks manager Joe Girardi told Joe Buck and Tim McCarver on the FOX telecast that Teixeira could not get much snap from his wrist in his swing and will return to New York to be examined by Dr. Chris Ahmad, the Yankees’ team physician.
The fear is that Teixeira may have suffered the same sort of setback that Blue Jays outfielder Jose Bautista did last year when he sustained a torn sheath in his wrist and aggravated it later in a game against the Yankees and was lost for the rest of the season. Teixeira’s condition this year is much the same as Bautista’s was in 2012.
Teixeira barely got untracked for the Yankees. In 15 games, he was hitting .151 with one double, three home runs and 12 RBI in 53 at-bats. He was particularly ineffective batting left-handed, as he did Saturday, with only three hits in 35 at-bats (.082) with two home runs and eight RBI. If Teixeira needs to go back on the DL, he would be the third regular to do a second stint, following Youkilis and Curtis Granderson.
The Yanks’ June swoon continued with a 6-2 loss, their fifth straight defeat and the fourth game in a row in which they scored just two runs. The Yankees have scored in only three of their past 38 innings. They got all their runs in one inning again Saturday with two out in the third on a single by Chris Stewart, a triple by Brett Gardner and a single by Jayson Nix. The 3-4-5 hitters came up 0-for-11 to continue a disturbing trend of low production from the middle of the order. Five Angels pitchers combined for 14 strikeouts.
The Angels banged out 12 hits against three Yankees pitchers, including three more hits plus a walk by Yankee killer Howie Kendrick, who raised his career average against them to .354 in 198 at-bats. David Phelps (4-4) gave up a home run to Eric Aybar, who later singled home a run in the sixth that unlocked a 2-2 score. Shawn Kelley had an unusual streak of wildness (three walks) in a two-run Angels seventh. Even slumping Josh Hamilton (.213) contributed an RBI double. Joba Chamberlain was victimized by a two-out single in the eighth by Albert Pujols for his second RBI of the game.
Ichiro Suzuki was the bright light for the Yankees Saturday with two hits, two stolen bases (and should have had a third if not for an umpire’s missed call) and two tumbling catches in right field. However, when Ichiro stole second and third in the seventh inning he was left stranded as Thomas Neal, Reid Brignac and Stewart all struck out. The Yankees are 7-for-39 (.179) with runners in scoring position and are averaging three runs per game during the losing streak.
The Yankees’ record in June fell to 6-8 as their offense continues to decline. They hit .261 as a team in April, .233 in May and are at .212 in June while slugging merely .327. The slide finds the Yankees only one game out of fourth place in the American League East. They will turn to CC Sabathia on Father’s Day to try and save face on the final day of the trip.
