A NEW York Yankees trade deadline acquisition has received news no major leaguer wants to hear.
One of the Yankees‘ trade deadline bullpen pieces has been told to return to Triple-A after a horrific start to his tenure with the team.
Aaron Boone and the New York Yankees have made a brutal decision regarding one of their trade deadline acquisitions[/caption]
Yankees relief pitcher Jake Bird gave up a game-winning home run to the Texas Rangers on Monday night[/caption]
Yankees relief pitcher Jake Bird gave up a walk-off three-run home run to third baseman Josh Jung in a brutal 8-5, 10-inning loss to the Texas Rangers on Monday night.
The next morning, the Yankees optioned Bird to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
In a corresponding move, the team made room for the return of reliever Mark Leiter Jr. from the injured list.
Bird had experienced a brutal start to his Yankees tenure in his first outing after he was acquired from the Colorado Rockies last week.
The 29-year-old gave up a grand slam to Kyle Stowers on Friday night against the Miami Marlins.
The homer occurred while the Yanks held a 9-4 lead, which would turn into a 13-12 loss.
Bird has struggled since the beginning of July.
Through July 1, he pitched to a 2.63 ERA while giving up two home runs in his first 37 games.
However, in his last eight games with the Rockies, he allowed 14 earned runs and three home runs in five-and-a-third innings, which is a 23.63 ERA.
Bird did improve on Saturday when he threw a perfect sixth inning with two strikeouts while the Yankees were down 2-0 to the Marlins.
And he was asked to get out of the 10th inning and retired the first two Rangers in order.
But after the Yankees intentionally walked star outfielder Wyatt Langford, Jung slugged a 1-1 pitch into the left field stands to walk it off.
The Yankees traded away prospects Roc Riggio and Ben Shields to acquire Bird.
The Bronx Bombers have also seen less-than-stellar first outings from David Bednar and Camilo Doval, both of whom were acquired in last Thursday’s deadline.
Bird gave up a grand slam in his first appearance with the Yankees last week[/caption]
The pair did throw scoreless innings on Monday night before Devin Williams blew a save in the ninth inning thanks to a Joc Pederson game-tying homer.
The Yankees are now 60-53 and in third place.
They are a disappointing 25-31 since June 1.
New York is on a four-game losing streak as they’ll look to bounce back on Tuesday night in Texas.
