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Yankees hitless with runners in scoring position again, drop series finale to Reds

NEW YORK — Even on an afternoon in which they faced one of MLB’s filthiest flamethrowers, the New York Yankees had their chances.

They put eight runners on base against Cincinnati Reds ace Chase Burns, and five of them made it into scoring position.

They put plenty of pressure on the Reds’ bullpen, too.

But the clutch hit eluded the Yankees throughout Sunday’s 4-1 defeat in the Bronx, continuing a weekend-long trend while clinching a series loss to Cincinnati.

“The ball just didn’t really roll the way we needed it to,” catcher Austin Wells said.

The Yankees went 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position Sunday and finished 2 for 32 over the three-game series.

They were 0 for 13 with runners in scoring position in Saturday’s 10-2 loss. Going back to the eighth inning of Friday night’s 5-0 win, the Yankees are 0-for-their-last-24 with runners in scoring position.

“That’s baseball. You want the opportunities,” manager Aaron Boone said.

“I’ll take the opportunities. We’ll cash in. These last two days, they’ve held us down, obviously. I feel like we’ve had good at-bats and given ourselves opportunities. We just haven’t gotten that hit.”

Burns held the Yankees (46-30) to one run over five innings with seven strikeouts, despite allowing five hits and three walks. The Yankees stole six bases against the 23-year-old right-hander, who is slow to home plate.

But the Yankees went 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position against Burns, who stranded at least one runner at second or third base in four of his five innings.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. popped out with runners at second and third to end the first.

Wells popped out with a runner at third to end the third.

And with a runner on second in the fifth, Bellinger struck out on three pitches, swinging through each, including back-to-back 98-mph fastballs to end the inning.

Burns, in his second MLB season, improved to 9-1 with a 2.00 ERA through 15 starts.

“He’s one of the game’s really good — forget young — pitchers,” Boone said. “I thought we had good at-bats against him, throughout the lineup. I thought we pressured him well. I thought we were making it hard on him. We just, a little bit like yesterday, couldn’t break through.”

The only offense against Burns came in the third inning, when Ben Rice clubbed his 22nd home run to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead.

But even that felt like something of a missed opportunity, as Anthony Volpe was picked off at first base right before Rice homered.

Volpe contended that first baseman Sal Stewart’s foot blocked his lane to the base. The umpires saw it differently.

“He said he didn’t want to watch it on the screen,” said Volpe, who was animated in arguing the call. “He said the throw took [Stewart] there, which I didn’t have, but it’s up to him.”

The Yankees’ lead did not last long, as rookie starter Elmer Rodríguez surrendered a two-out, three-run home run to catcher Tyler Stephenson in the fourth.

It remained a 3-1 game when righty-swinging Paul Goldschmidt, pitch-hitting for Wells, came up with runners at the corners and two outs in the sixth. But the red-hot Goldschmidt flew out harmlessly on a first-pitch sweeper from left-handed reliever Sam Moll, ending the scoring threat.

Following Sunday’s loss, the Yankees ranked sixth in OPS with runners in scoring position (.787) and 12th in batting average (.255) among the 30 MLB teams.

“[If you] keep getting in those situations, getting guys on base, good things will happen,” Volpe said. “It’s just a matter of time.”

Rodríguez, the Yankees’ top pitching prospect, allowed three runs in four-plus innings with two walks and a career-high four strikeouts in his fourth MLB start.

Gerrit Cole was originally lined up to start Sunday, but the Yankees decided to give their ace — and the rest of the rotation — an extra day of rest amid a stretch of 16 consecutive games without an off-day.

The Yankees called up Rodríguez, 22, before Sunday’s game, then optioned him back to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre afterward.

“I thought it was the best he’s thrown it since he’s been up here,” Boone said of Rodríguez, who fell to 0-2 with a 4.76 ERA.

“I thought his strike-throwing was really good, and then he lost the zone there a little bit with [Noelvi] Marte, fell behind him, and he gets the base hit to right. Then he falls behind Stephenson, gave up the long ball [on a 3-1 fastball].”

The Reds tacked on an insurance run in the eighth against Camilo Dovel, starting with a hustle double by Spencer Steer.

Steer snuck a slow roller under the glove of the second baseman Chisholm, and as Steer surged to second, José Caballero — who moved from left field to center field an inning earlier — came up throwing.

His throw sailed over second base and all the way to the backstop, allowing Steer to move to third.

“We’re not gonna make a play on that, but I thought Cabby was a little slow to react in center, which allowed Steer to get [to second base],” Boone said. “And then we didn’t play catch well.”

Steer scored when Marte lifted a ground-rule double that Jasson Domínguez — making his seventh career appearance in right field amid Aaron Judge’s injury absence — couldn’t corral in front of the wall.

“I think that’s another one of those balls that’s kind of just perfectly placed,” Boone said. “I don’t know if there’s a lot of guys making that play.”

The loss capped a 3-3 homestand for the Yankees, who now head to Detroit. Cole (1-1, 2.57 ERA) is set to start Monday night’s series opener against Tigers left-hander Framber Valdez (3-5, 4.09 ERA).

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