Despite struggling earlier in the week against the Blue Jays, the Yankees still turned to Luke Weaver on Friday night against the Mets while leading 5-4 in the bottom of the seventh inning with two outs.
But it quickly became yet another déjà vu situation.
Weaver walked Pete Alonso and then let up a go-ahead, two-run home run to Jeff McNeil as the Mets held on for the 6-5 win, handing the Yanks their fifth straight loss. After allowing home runs in now three straight games, Weaver was brutally honest about his recent performances.
"I said I've been feeling good, that just may be a lie now, I don't know," Weaver said. "It's hard to make sense of what's going on. Obviously, we can kind of nitpick it and feels as if, 'You can do this better and that better.' That may be true. But I also know that pitching in the game of baseball come in all different waves and middle-middle works sometimes by accident. All the many things inbetween.
"I think at this point I've got two options: I can sulk and feel bad for myself or I can foundationally grind and find a way to just be flat-out better. Flat-out better for myself, for my teammates, and for this team in general, the fans. I don't want to be too hard on myself, but at the end of the day, what else is there? I have to be able to process it. And competitively it's just devastating."
The right-hander had recently returned from the IL on June 20 after being out since May 31 with a hamstring strain. He let up go-ahead runs to the Orioles in his first game back, but then settled back to his regular self, allowing just one hit over his next three outings. New York then headed to Toronto and things fell off the rails.
Weaver entered Tuesday's game in the bottom of the seventh inning with two on base and one out in a 5-5 game, but allowed a grand slam to George Springer to blow the game open (becoming a 12-5 loss). The right-hander threw again Thursday in the eighth inning with the Yanks down 6-5 and lost to Springer again, letting up a two-run homer to result in an 8-5 loss.
After Friday's loss to the Mets, manager Aaron Boone was asked what's gone wrong for Weaver during this recent stretch of poor outings.
"Just that last bit of execution which is the fine line between being dominant and giving up some damage," Boone said. "I feel like physically he's in a really good place, the stuff is there. It's just that fine line, that's a big difference maker.
"Fully trust in him to get through that and he's got the make-up to handle this, he's been through a lot in his career as far as dealing with successes and failures. Because the stuff is where it needs to be I think, I think he'll get through that."
The Yankees can't afford for Weaver to be an unreliable piece of the bullpen, especially after Fernando Cruz landed on the IL on June 30. But Boone isn't worried about that becoming the case and expressed his confidence in Weaver being able to turn it around.
"You got to get out there and do it," Boone said. "One thing I know about Luke is he's not afraid, he likes the action. And again, it's sometimes just that fine line. We're talking about three pitches that have hurt him big time here this week. But you also have to take a step back and say that, it's three pitches that have hurt him.
"Obviously, in leverage that's a big deal. But it's not something where you're like, 'Man, the stuff's down, how do we get that going again?' That looks like it's all there, physically he seems to be in a really good place so that's why I trust he'll get through this."
Boone reiterated that he hasn't notice anything off mechanically with Weaver, and said he just needs to get pitches to the right spot and "execute."
The Yanks will look to flip the switch and snap their five game losing streak on Saturday at Citi Field at 4:10 p.m.
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