The Yankees at least avoided ignominy in the form of a perfect game.
But that was about the only positive on a night when they did not touch second base.
Former Met Seth Lugo was in complete command, dominating the Yankees across seven shutout innings to lift the Royals to a 5-0 win on Tuesday night in The Bronx.
Lugo allowed just three hits, all of them singles and two of them bloops by Gleyber Torres.
He did not walk a batter, struck out 10 and only entered two three-ball counts all night.
In between singles by Torres (in the first and sixth innings), Lugo retired 17 straight batters as he cruised in what could be a potential playoff preview.
The Yankees (83-62) rolled out a lineup that looked like one of the most potent they had used all year — with Jasson Dominguez starting in left field over Alex Verdugo — but it hardly made a difference while striking out a combined 14 times.
By the end of the game, the Yankees were on the verge of having their AL East lead trimmed to a half-game by the Orioles (pending the finish of their game against the Red Sox).
Coming off a clunker against the Rangers last week, Marcus Stroman was better, if still not his sharpest.
The right-hander, who is trying to maintain his rotation spot with the Yankees set to send one starter to the bullpen by next week, gave up three runs on seven hits and two walks across 5 ¹/₃ innings.
Mark Leiter Jr. and Tim Mayza each gave up a run behind Stroman to give the Royals (80-66) some breathing room, though they did not exactly need it on a night when Lugo was suffocatingly good.
On most nights this season, the Yankees have usually been able to count on Aaron Judge and Juan Soto to be a source of production.
But the duo combined to go 0-for-8 with four strikeouts, extending a quiet 14-game stretch for each — Judge is 10-for-51 with 11 walks and no home runs while Soto is 11-for-52 with nine walks.
Besides Torres, Austin Wells had the Yankees’ only other hit on the night, a line-drive single off Lugo in the seventh.
The Royals jumped on Stroman in the second inning with some well-placed contact — first soft, then loud.
No. 9 hitter Kyle Isbel led off with a bloop single through the open left side, then took off on a pitch to Tommy Pham that got grounded to shortstop.
It was going to be a tight play at second if Anthony Volpe had charged the ball, so he stayed back on it and got the sure out at first base.
Bobby Witt Jr. came up next and drilled a grounder through the left side for the 1-0 lead.
Salvador Perez — who is now 6-for-7 with five RBIs through the first two games of the series — followed by roping a line drive into the left-field corner to make it 2-0, though Dominguez helped limit the damage by throwing out Perez as he tried to stretch a single into a double.
In the fifth inning, Isbel led off again with a single and took second on Pham’s weak chopper to third base.
One out later, even after a mound meeting from pitching coach Matt Blake before the at-bat, Perez delivered a single up the middle that extended the Royals lead to 3-0.
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Leiter relieved Stroman in the sixth inning, then got tagged for a solo home run by Pham in the seventh.
The trade deadline acquisition has now given up five home runs in 15 ²/₃ innings as a Yankee after allowing just two in 36 ¹/₃ innings as a Cub.
He has also given up at least one run in eight of his 16 appearances as a Yankee.