Yankees still stuck in slump as Reds complete sweep at Stadium

Well, that was embarrassing.

Yankees fans, no doubt, would use far stronger language.

The going-nowhere Reds arrived in the Bronx on Tuesday having lost 12 of their last 19 in what had been a woefully disappointing 2024.

Then they found their game — at least over the three-day stretch — in a hurry.

With the Yankees continuing a two-week-plus trend of neither hitting nor pitching with any degree of consistency, the Reds completed a three-game sweep Thursday afternoon with an 8-4 victory in front of an irritated holiday crowd of 43,154 at the Stadium.

The Yankees (54-35), who are two games behind the AL East-leading Orioles, have lost 13 of their last 17. They allowed the opposition to score first for the 13th time in the past 14 games on Thursday (going 2-11 in those 13 games) and were outhomered 7-4 by the Reds in the series.

“That’s part of the season,” said Aaron Judge, who went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, a rare day of not being locked in for the captain. “You gotta go through things like this, and we’re going to come out better for it going through these struggles. You’ve gotta get beat down a little bit to kind of see what you’re made of. And we’re going to find out real soon.”

The Yankees’ road to better times is pockmarked with land mines. The hot Red Sox, who took two of three from the Yankees at Fenway Park three weeks ago, start a three-game series at the Stadium on Friday. After that are three games against the Rays in St. Petersburg and three in Baltimore, which has won five of the seven meetings between the clubs, before the All-Star break.

“Not good. We’ve got to play better on all fronts,” Aaron Boone said. “It seems like we’re playing catch-up a lot, which is a difficult way to play. Right now a lot of our mistakes are ending up in the seats, and that’s obviously hurt us.

“But it’s on all of us to understand we have to play better. Also the realization you’re going to go through a tough stretch, but also understanding you need a kick in the butt a little bit and make sure we’re coming in here with the right level of focus. Not saying we’re not, but just making sure we’re locked and loaded and ready to go. Especially in a time when it’s not going real well, it’s up to all of us to pick it up a little bit.”

After Nick Martini and Jonathan India hit solo homers in the second and third and Spencer Steer hit a three-run shot in the fifth, the homer margin in the series was 7-1 in the Reds’ favor before rookies Austin Wells (423 feet) and Ben Rice (407 feet) went deep in the fifth and Juan Soto hit a 431-foot two-run shot in the seventh.

It was the first career homer for Rice (1-for-5), who supplanted the slumping Anthony Volpe at leadoff (Boone said he wanted to give the shortstop a “break” from the pressures of hitting in front of Soto and Judge).

Soto’s 21st homer — he had been robbed of at least an extra-base hit and possibly a home run by centerfielder Will Benson in the first inning — cut the Yankees’ deficit to 8-4 (Jake Fraley’s three-run triple off Jake Cousins in the top of the seventh had made it 8-2).

Marcus Stroman (7-4, 3.58) put the Yankees in a 5-0 hole in his five innings, allowing five hits, including the three homers. He has given up five homers in his last three starts.

One out away from getting through the fifth with the Yankees down 2-0, Stroman threw a cutter that Steer lined into the seats in right for a backbreaking 344-foot three-run homer.

“I didn’t do my job,” he said. “That one’s on me for sure today.”

The Yankees’ rotation, a collective standout the first two months of the season, is 4-13 with a 7.76 ERA since June 15.

That has coincided with the offense skidding, aside from Judge and Soto, and Reds righthander Frankie Montas was the latest opposing pitcher to reap the benefits.

Montas (4-6, 4.19 ERA), a train wreck of an acquisition for the Yankees before the 2022 trade deadline who arrived from Oakland with a damaged right shoulder, allowed two runs and four hits in five innings-plus.

“We play 162 games, you’re going to go on stretches where you’re not playing well,” Stroman said. “I don’t think this is something that will last. We played well in the beginning of the year and now we’re hitting kind of a skid. But the confidence in this group is very consistent, and I feel like we’re going to come out of this pretty soon.”