Messy Yankees fall again to Reds to drop series

The Yankees lost consecutive games for the first time in three weeks when they dropped a second straight to Cincinnati on Sunday in The Bronx.And while they have larger plans in mind, which is why they pushed Gerrit Cole and the rest of the rotation back a day and are moving top pitching prospect Carlos Lagrange into the bullpen at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, that doesn’t make Sunday much easier to stomach.Following Saturday’s sluggish defeat, the Yankees put on a similarly messy display to finish the homestand.Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Greg Joyce about the inside buzz on the Yankees.

Despite six stolen bases, they made some ugly errors due in part to players playing where they shouldn’t be and their lack of depth in the lineup without Aaron Judge was apparent again in a 4-1 loss at the Stadium.In Cole’s place was Elmer Rodríguez, who nearly gave the Yankees what they wanted, but saw his afternoon ruined by a two-out, three-run homer by Tyler Stephenson in the fourth inning.That, coupled with the Yankees unable to break through against the Reds pitching again, was enough to do them in.Against Chase Burns, who entered the game fourth in the majors with an ERA of 2.01, the Yankees got just a solo homer from Ben Rice in the third.And after going hitless in 13 at-bats with runners in scoring position on Saturday, they went 0-for-9 Sunday.Rodríguez, in his fourth start for the Yankees, survived a scoreless first without much help from his teammates.Blake Dunn led off with a flare single to center and JJ Bleday reached on a catcher’s interference by Austin Wells, just back from the IL.After a Nathaniel Lowe groundout, Rodríguez got Sal Stewart to hit a grounder to second, where Jazz Chisholm Jr.was slow to get the ball to Anthony Volpe at the base and they were unable to turn a double play.Rodríguez whiffed Spencer Steer to end the threat.The Yankees squandered their first scoring chanc...