An announced crowd of 40,249 came to a chilly Yankee Stadium on Thursday night to watch a ballgame.
They may have been better off just staying home to tune into the Knicks, or any number of activities that would have been less frustrating than watching the Yankees lineup.
On a night when arguably the biggest cheers were reserved for the Knicks score being flashed on the video board, the Yankees bats came up emptier than airballs in a 2-0 loss to the Blue Jays in The Bronx.
After winning the first two games of the four-game set against the defending division champs, the Yankees (30-21) wasted a chance to take the series over the past two nights, going down meekly with a combined one run and nine hits.
That was somewhat understandable Wednesday, when the Blue Jays (23-27) had young stud Trey Yesavage on the mound, but Thursday the Yankees mustered just three hits as they were shut down by five pitchers, including bulk reliever Spencer Miles, a rookie who cruised across 4 ¹/₃ innings.
The Yankees, who will welcome the division-leading Rays on Friday for a showdown that begins with Gerrit Cole’s season debut, have lost nine of their past 13 games.
They struck out 14 times, did not have a runner advance past second base all night, and only had multiple base runners in one inning — first and second with one out in the sixth, after which Jazz Chisholm Jr. struck out on three pitches and Paul Goldschmidt grounded out.
Aaron Judge, owner of the seventh-highest OPS in the majors, had another quiet night, going 0-for-4 with a strikeout and grounding into a double play.
He is 4-for-31 with 12 strikeouts over his past eight games.
Carlos Rodón turned in the best start of his delayed season, tossing five innings of one-run ball.
He still battled some issues with his command — walking three batters, one of whom turned into the only run he surrendered— but allowed only three hits and struck out seven while completing five innings for the first time this year.
Despite the left-hander’s fastball velocity being down, Rodón generated 18 whiffs, an encouraging sign even on a night when he was still trying to fine-tune his command.
Two of Rodón’s three walks were issued to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., with the first coming back to burn him.
It came with one out in the first inning, and Guerrero soon stole second base to get into scoring position for Daulton Varsho, who grounded a double off third base for the 1-0 lead.
Camilo Doval later gave up a run when he left a slider over the heart of the plate to George Springer, who belted it for a solo shot that made it 2-0 in the seventh inning.