CLEVELAND — Chad Green couldn’t build on his previous start.
The Yankees’ offense couldn’t build on the previous night’s comeback, either.
Indeed, Team Inconsistency reared its head again Friday night in an ugly 10-2 loss to the Indians in front of a sellout crowd of 34,045 at Progressive Field.
The Yankees (42-44) fell to 3-5 on this three-city, 10-game trip that precedes the All-Star break. They also scored two or fewer runs for the 34th time in 86 games — nearly 40 percent — going 4-30 in those games.
Green, who allowed one run and three hits last Sunday against the lowly Padres, found the going much more difficult against the powerful Indians (52-34), who lead the AL Central.
The 25-year-old righthander, taking the place of Nathan Eovaldi in the rotation Friday night and hoping to lay claim to a longer-term gig there in the season’s second half, allowed seven runs and five hits, including four home runs, in 4 1⁄3 innings.
“No secondary stuff at all,” said one opposing team scout. “And his fastball just had no movement. None.”
Former AL Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber, who has experienced a few ups and downs this season, had few downs Friday night. He allowed one run, five hits and no walks in eight innings, striking out eight.
The only run off Kluber was Brian McCann’s 14th home run, an opposite-field shot to leftfield in the seventh that made it 9-1. Back-to-back doubles by Carlos Beltran and McCann in the ninth made it 10-2.
Before this series, Joe Girardi talked about his confidence in a team that, to date, had not gone on any kind of sustained run.
“I believe in our guys, that’s the bottom line,” he said. “I believe in what they’re capable of doing, seen what they’re capable of doing. I know it’s been up, down, one step forward, two back, but I believe they have a run in them. And it’s got to start pretty soon.”
Not last night. Kluber was backed by an offense that produced a season-high five home runs and two doubles among its nine hits. Jason Kipnis homered twice, giving him 14 this season, and Carlos Santana (No. 20), Mike Napoli (No. 18) and Lonnie Chisenhall (No. 6) added one each.
McCann replaced Mark Teixeira at first base in the sixth inning, though there was no immediate announcement if Teixeira had suffered an injury or if Girardi simply was getting the brittle first baseman out in a blowout.
Santana and Kipnis went back-to-back in the first inning to start Green’s night, and Chisenhall later made it a three-homer inning. His two-run shot gave the Indians a 4-0 lead after six batters.
The Indians were back at it in the third. Francisco Lindor walked and Napoli followed with a home run that traveled an estimated 462 feet, destroying a full-count fastball off the base of the scoreboard in left-center.
There was more to come in the fifth. Kipnis singled with one out and, after lefthander Richard Bleier replaced Green, scored on Lindor’s double off the wall in center, which missed being a home run by about two feet. Napoli’s single up the middle made it 8-0.
Cleveland’s fifth home run of the night, a leadoff blast by Kipnis off Anthony Swarzak in the seventh, made it 10-1.
..... - Newsday