Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Greg Joyce about the inside buzz on the Yankees.
Try it freeDETROIT — And that’s the way Cookie crumbled.
On a day that was not at all ideal for hitting, the Tigers made it seem easier than the Yankees, as the pitching may have had more to do with that than the 34 degrees at first pitch.
Carlos Carrasco served up three home runs in a span of four batters in the fourth inning, which torpedoed his outing and sent the Yankees to a third straight loss, 5-0 to the Tigers on a frigid Tuesday afternoon at Comerica Park.
As if the conditions were not challenging enough to hit in, the Yankees were facing reigning AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal, who carved them up across six shutout innings.
Paul Goldschmidt and Ben Rice led off the game with back-to-back singles, but it turned out to be the best chance they had all day to score runs. The lefty Skubal retired 16 straight batters before Goldschmidt reached on an infield single with one out in the sixth inning.
Carrasco had delivered a solid first star, when he gave up three runs across 5 ⅓ innings against the Diamondbacks. But the 38-year-old right-hander, who won a rotation spot with a strong spring and injuries to Gerrit Cole, Luis Gil and Clarke Schmidt, had a tougher time on Tuesday while giving up four runs across 4 ⅓ innings.
The Tigers led 1-0 entering the fourth inning, when they teed off on Carrasco in a flash.
Spencer Torkelson, who had doubled and scored in the second inning, led off by crushing a first-pitch slider into the Yankees’ bullpen in left-center field.
One out later, Zach McKinstry and Dillon Dingler hit back-to-back jacks, both off of sinkers (at 90 and 91 mph) to make it 4-0.
The Yankees are expected to get Schmidt back from the injured list next week (if he gets through his final rehab start Thursday without any issues), but it is not a given that Carrasco will be the odd man out. If the Yankees want to maximize their starting depth, which they don’t have much of at this point, they could instead choose to option Will Warren to Triple-A instead of potentially losing Carrasco.
Lefty Ryan Yarbrough relieved Carrasco in the fifth inning and immediately gave up a solo home run of his own, this one to Kerry Carpenter that made it 5-0.