Yankees offense lifeless again in shutout loss to Blue Jays

The goose egg reared its ugly head once again on Friday night in The Bronx.

On another lifeless night for their offense, the Yankees were blanked by the Blue Jays in a 4-0 loss at the Stadium.

Kevin Gausman became the latest pitcher to shut down the Yankees, who suffered their third shutout in their last six games and fifth in the last two weeks. Gausman scattered just four hits over seven innings, allowing only one base runner to touch second base all night – and it came in the first inning.

The Yankees (73-47) lost for the 14th time in their last 18 games and fell to 12-24 since July 8. Their lead atop the AL East that day was a season-high 15 1/2 games, but after Friday night, the Blue Jays (64-54) cut it down to eight games – the smallest it has been since June 13.

Over their last 10 games, the Yankees have scored just 19 runs – eight of which came in Wednesday’s wild comeback win. That game has served as little more than a blip on the radar for a team that has otherwise struggled mightily at the plate.

Not even Aaron Judge, who entered the night 8-for-20 in his career against Gausman, could put the Yankees on his back. The AL MVP favorite went 0-for-2 with a walk and is now 2-for-23 over his last seven games in a rare off week, though he is far from the only Yankee in that group.

Oswaldo Cabrera gave the Yankees their best moment of the night on the first pitch of the game, when he committed home run robbery. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. drilled a Jameson Taillon fastball to right field, where Cabrera went back to the wall and used all of his 5-foot-10 frame to pull it back in with a leaping grab.

The Blue Jays later got to Taillon in the third inning, though, to claim a 1-0 lead. Whit Merrifield led off with a single and moved to third on a Cavan Biggio double before coming around to score on Gurriel’s groundout to shortstop.

Teoscar Hernandez then made it a 3-0 game in the fifth inning when he clubbed a fastball down the middle for a two-run home run.

After Josh Donaldson’s two-out singled in the first inning, Gausman retired 10 in a row before Gleyber Torres led off the fifth inning with a single. But Torres was quickly erased when Isiah Kiner-Falefa grounded into a double play.

The Blue Jays knocked Taillon out of the game in the sixth inning. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. led off with a hard double to right field and Alejandro Kirk followed with a single to put runners on the corners.

Lou Trivino then entered from the bullpen and delivered one of his best outings as a Yankee to keep the deficit at 3-0. Trivino got Hernandez to pop up, Bo Bichette to strike out and Matt Chapman to ground out.

In the ninth inning, Aroldis Chapman walked back-to-back hitters on nine pitches for the second time in three games. It loaded the bases with one out, though Ron Marinaccio cleaned up the mess by limiting the damage to just a sacrifice fly that made it 4-0.