Yankees’ Fernando Cruz drops ‘champions’ truth bomb after Red Sox sweep

The New York Yankees have dropped to second place in the AL East standings after a weekend series sweep at the hands of their sworn rival, the Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox punctuated their sweep of the Yankees by storming back from a two-run deficit heading into the bottom of the 10th inning, scoring three runs to steal the game away from New York.

This weekend series sweep is merely a continuation of what is currently a brutal stretch for the Yankees. They have lost seven of their past 10 contests, and against the Red Sox, the team’s offense was mostly dormant — with Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s ejection not helping matters at all on Sunday.

Nonetheless, for Yankees reliever Fernando Cruz, he believes that every team with World Series aspirations has to weather this sort of a brutal stretch, with adversity molding them into the team they can be.

“The best teams go through stretches like this, and champions and great teams in history go through stretches like this, and especially games like this. For me, it’s a formation. It’s something that is forming me into a better athlete and a better pitcher, and I’m gonna be better next time,” Cruz said, via Gary Phillips of New York Daily News.

It was Cruz who allowed Jarren Duran to drive in the winning run in the 10th with a single to right field, and he allowed two earned runs while getting just one out. He’s typically been a reliable piece of the Yankees bullpen, but he could not get the job done on Sunday. That does not mean that he’s a poor reliever whatsoever; in fact, the opposite is true.

But with New York already having to weather injury problems to some of their most important players, including superstar right fielder Aaron Judge, they cannot afford to make things even more difficult for themselves.

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