Yankees on Wrong Side of MLB History With Rare Stat in Playoff Loss to Rays

The New York Yankees had a historically bad defensive performance in their 5-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 2 of the American League Division Series on Monday night.

According to OptaStats, the Yankees are the first team to have more different players record an error than a hit in a postseason game in 16 years:

The last team to earn that dubious distinction was the Cincinnati Reds when they were no-hit by Philadelphia Phillies ace Roy Halladay in Game 1 of the 2010 National League Division Series.

That marked only the second no-hitter in MLB playoff history, and since the Reds did not record a hit, it took only one error in the game for them to "achieve" the stat at hand.

As for the Yankees, they committed four errors on Monday night in one of the worst defensive efforts imaginable, and all four errors were made by a different player.

The Yanks also had four hits, but since Ben Rice had two of them, they had more players commit an error than get a hit.

Three of the errors occurred in the first inning and allowed the Rays to take an early lead, as third baseman Ryan McMahon flubbed a grounder and second baseman Jazz Chisholm threw the ball away on an attempted double play, which led to Yandy Díaz scoring the game's opening run.

The third error saw catcher Austin Wells commit catcher's interference, although no further damage was done after that.

New York's fourth and final error of the game came during Tampa's four-run fifth inning when shortstop George Lombard Jr. made a throwing error to first base, allowing Jonny DeLuca to reach safely.

A Richie Palacios single in the next at-bat plated the Rays' fourth and fifth runs of the night.

While errors were numerous for the Yankees on Monday, the only true source of offense was Rice, who crushed a pair of solo home runs in the loss.

After getting one-hit in Game 1 of the series, it can be argued that the Yankees were collectively just as bad in Game 2, putting the Rays in firm control of the series.

The ALDS now shifts to Yankee Stadium, though, for Game 3 and Game 4 if necessary, giving the Bronx Bombers a chance to get back in it in front of their home fans.