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Yankees losing streak reaches five after lopsided loss to Rangers

It might be premature to say the wheels have come off the New York Yankees, but the evidence during their current five-game losing streak certainly hasn't been encouraging.

After dropping the series finale in Kansas City and being swept by the Nationals in a quick two-game series to begin the week, the Yankees returned home for a weekend series against the Texas Rangers and have promptly dropped the first two, including Saturday's lopsided 15-4 loss.

Looking back to Friday, if you look strictly at the 10-9 final, the takeaway might be that New York continued battling offensively and nearly pulled off a dramatic victory. While it's true the offense was resilient, it's their overall play and the circumstances that hover over their play that are most troubling.

With Masahiro Tanaka and Ivan Nova already out injured, Chase Whitley headed for Tommy John surgery and CC Sabathia struggling to find his footing, the starting rotation is a mixed and matched group with only one consistent source of production this season: Michael Pineda.

But even that truth is wearing thin now after Pineda was roughed up for five runs on May 15 in Kansas City and seven runs (four earned) on Friday.

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The circumstances are such that there's really no margin for error for New York on offense and especially on defense, which unfortunately is where they've suffered a letdown this weekend.

In the Rangers seven-run third inning on Friday, they were aided by errors from Pineda and shortstop Didi Gregorius. Amazingly, on Saturday, Texas topped that third inning output by scoring 10 runs, with six coming against CC Sabathia.

(Getty Images)
(Getty Images)

Though all 10 runs were earned, it was New York's defense that again helped set the stage as Gregorius made an ill-advised behind-the-back flip that led to a no play. Later in the frame, right fielder Carlos Beltran watched a ball skip right between his legs, allowing Shin-soo Choo to score from first base.

Here's a scary assessment of the two-day damage in the third innings alone.

Ouch.

Losing five straight games is one thing. Honestly, just about every team will have that type of stretch this season regardless of talent level. But the injuries now coupled with sloppy play raises some red flags for New York, especially now with Tampa Bay playing well and others in their tight division hanging around .500. The Yankees are now 22-21, one and one-half game behind those same Rays.

The injuries they can do little about except wait, which in Tanaka's case hopefully won't be long now that he's off on a rehab assignment. Fundamentally, however, Sunday might be a good day to hit the reset button and focus on one pitch at a time and one at-bat at a time both at the plate and in the field.

It's cliched, yes, but that doesn't mean the sentiment is flawed or can't be applied to the Yankees.

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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!