The Yankees’ 11-8 loss to the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday night and into the early hours of Thursday morning was as demoralizing a defeat as possible.
After scoring seven runs off of MVP candidate Shohei Ohtani in the first inning and enduring a pair of rain delays, the Yankees saw Aroldis Chapman melt down in the ninth inning, walking three and allowing a Jared Walsh grand slam before Lucas Luetge allowed three more runs to give the Angels the lead for good.
And manager Aaron Boone didn’t hold back following the final out.
“Terrible loss,” Boone said. “Continue to have good at-bats to give ourselves chances to blow the game open and couldn’t get it done, so let them hang around enough and it was obviously a struggle there in the ninth.”
When asked if he felt he needed to talk to the team following the Angels’ seven-run ninth inning and improbable win, Boone said the Yankees are past the point of talking.
“We’ve spoken a ton. Everyone’s said everything they need to,” Boone said. “The guys have spoken to one another. … Talk is cheap right now. We need to go out and play full games and start hammering some people.”
Giancarlo Stanton was also short and to the point when asked about what his message would be to frustrated Yankees fans.
“We’re all just as frustrated,” he said. “We’ve got to pick this s–t up, that’s it”
“What are you going to talk about for now? You talk about things you can improve and talk about pushing through this, but at the end of the day if we don’t turn up Ws, you can f—ing talk until you’re blue in the face,” he added.
Wednesday’s outing was another concerning performance from Chapman, whose ERA now stands at 3.77 as he continues to struggle with his command of late, blowing multiple save opportunities in the past couple weeks.
“Today, just struggled obviously finding the zone,” Boone said of Chapman. “Credit the Angels, they worked some good at-bats against him and then obviously a big swing.
“Frustrating, disappointing, terrible. We’ve got to pick ourselves up.”
Chapman admitted that being unable to command his fastball has been a big issue for him, but he remained confident he’ll be able to bounce back.
“I have my confidence,” Chapman said, via a translator. “I think the work I’m going to put in, I should be able to get back on track.”