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Yankees' collective slump coming at bad time

CLEVELAND -- The Yankees had no idea that their current offensive brownout was in the cards, not after savoring a 90-run romp over a 10-game span, but it could not be coming at a worse time for a club attempting to hold off the reinforced and surging Blue Jays.

New York's lineup has produced a grand total of eight runs in its last 61 innings, going down quietly through most of Tuesday night's 5-4, 16-inning loss to the Indians at Progressive Field.

"We just need to hit better. We just have to play better," Mark Teixeira said. "There's no magic formula. You just play better. A couple more hits and we'll be right back to where we need to be."

Cleveland pitching held the top five hitters in New York's starting lineup to just one hit in 28 at-bats on Tuesday, with Jacoby Ellsbury going 0-for-7 while Brett Gardner and Teixeira turned in 0-for-6 collars.

The group's only hit was Alex Rodriguez's seventh-inning single. Yankees manager Joe Girardi said that he thought his team squared up several balls without much to show for it when asked about the situation in his postgame news conference.

"If you're ready to give up, give up," Girardi said. "I'm not ready to give up. This is a good offense."

Wednesday's showing continued a drought that the Yankees believe started with a pair of matchups against knuckleballers, when they were stifled by Steven Wright of the Red Sox and R.A. Dickey of the Blue Jays last week.

David Price and Marco Estrada blanked them in back-to-back contests in the Bronx over the weekend -- the Yankees hadn't been shut out in consecutive games since May 12-13, 1999, vs. the Angels -- and the Yanks carried a 31-inning scoreless string into the sixth inning Tuesday, their longest since 1991, until Stephen Drew homered.

The recent run has been a head-scratcher, but Teixeira said that fortune plays a part; he smoked a seventh-inning ball down the first-base line, only to see it turned into a double play.

"When you're losing, those turn into double plays," Teixeira said. "When you're winning, those are three-, four-run innings. That's just the way it is sometimes. Like I said, we'll swing our way out of it."

Worth noting

Chase Headley was not in the Yankees' lineup on Tuesday, saying that his legs felt "banged up" after a few foul balls and some wear and tear, but he wound up coming off the bench to deliver a key pinch-hit in the 10th inning and logged three at-bats.

"It wasn't the perfect scenario, but it's not like I was really, really hurting and couldn't play, so I'll be fine," Headley said.

• Girardi indicated that the Yankees will have to make at least one roster move before Wednesday's game, having utilized seven relievers to work the final 11 1/3 innings of Tuesday's loss.

Bryan Hoch is a reporter for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter @bryanhoch, on Facebook and read his MLBlog, Bombers Beat.
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