Yankees make unfortunate history by striking out 17 times in back-to-back games vs. Rays

A topsy-turvy New York Yankees season experienced a new peculiar twist this week in Tampa Bay. On the road against the AL East-leading Rays, the Bronx Bombers struck out 17 times in back-to-back-games, becoming the first American League team all-time with batters fanned that many times in consecutive nine-inning games, according to ESPN.

The first of those strikeout-riddled performances actually came in a series-opening win, as the Yankees benefited from eight innings of one-run ball from right-hander Cam Schlittler and a pair of home runs from infielder José Caballero amid a 5-1 victory.

But Caballero and first baseman Paul Goldschmidt both struck out four times during a 6-4 defeat to the Rays (53-36) on Tuesday, when the Yankees (50-41) paid the price for their litany of Ks despite logging 11 hits.

In the top of the second inning at Tropicana Field, Caballero dropped his bat before a 92-mph four-seam fastball hurtled by him. That was the third strike, and he was caught looking, apparently while anticipating a breaking ball that he didn’t want to chase. That’s what manager Aaron Boone said Caballero’s explanation was, anyway, as reported by MLB.com, but it made for an embarrassing moment during a woeful night at the plate.

Rays left-handed starter Ian Seymour punched out 12 in 5 1/3 innings of work. A day earlier, Tampa Bay got 10 Ks in five innings from righty Griffin Jax.

“I’m confident in our approach,” Boone said postgame, via Yes Network. “But we’ve got to get some guys on track right now. [We’ve got] some really good players that are going through a tough time right now. We’re not going to overhaul and change. But part of our approach is being a tough out and being situational. We’ve got to do a better job of that right now.”

As for Goldschmidt, he’s now 0-for-30 since June 26 when the Yankees were in Boston, going through a four-game sweep versus the rival Red Sox. In that nine-game window, he’s piled up 12 strikeouts.

“The performance tonight especially was terrible,” Goldschmidt said, via Yes Network.

“I’d like to try to be more positive than that, but you strike out four times and there’s guys on base — it’s really just a bad performance.”

The Yankees have now struck out 34 times in the past two games, a franchise record. Their previous two-game high in that department was 30 Ks, per MLB.com, which noted that New York hit that mark twice last year: first on April 1-2 and then on Sept. 14-15. Before that, the Yankees also amassed that number of Ks at the plate from July 30-31, 2023.

So far this season, the Yankees have accumulated the fifth-most strikeouts (824) of any MLB offense. Along with an array of injuries, and a recent food poisoning bout, New York’s strikeout issues have proven to be another challenge in an adversity-worn 2026 campaign.