At this point in the season, 25 years ago, the New York Yankees had still struggled to find their footing in pursuit of their third consecutive World Series win. The Yanks had now lost two straight games, and five of their last six, with the most recent being a strange-yet-crushing extra-innings loss in Detroit.

New York’s next game in the Motor City wouldn’t be as dramatic, but the outcome was equally disappointing. The Yanks almost immediately dug a hole they could not climb out of, and fell even further back in the hotly contested American League East.

June 28: Yankees 6, Tigers 13 (box score)

Record: 37-35 (3.0 GB in AL East)

Ben Ford was on the bump for the Yankees, making just his second start of the season, and he ran into trouble with the Tiger bats from the very beginning. After Willie Blair set down the Bombers in order in the first, Tony Clark got the fun started for Detroit in the bottom of the first when he doubled in a pair of runs. It gave the Tigers a 2-0 lead, and one that they would never lose in this one.

An inning later, they struck again, first on an RBI knock from Juan Encarnación, then a triple from Deivi Cruz, and once again thanks to a productive out from Rich Becker. After two innings, the Cats were already up 5-0. Derek Jeter was able to get the Yankees on the board with a single in the third, but it was little compared to the damage done in Detroit’s half of that inning.

A solo homer from Clark kicked things off, before a pair of walks fueled a three-run bomb from Encarnación. The Bombers ultimately were struck thrice in that inning, as Luis Polonia tagged them with a two-run shot, putting his Tigers up a whopping 11-1.

Ford ultimately finished just two innings for New York, and was on the hook for seven earned runs on six hits. From that point on, it would be mostly smooth sailing for the otherwise mediocre Tigers.

The Yanks were able to make a little noise in the fifth, as Scott Brosius and Chuck Knoblauch both tallied RBI, but it was almost immediately matched when Cruz hit Detroit’s fourth home run of the game — a two-run shot that put them up by ten runs once again. Bernie Williams also made his mark on the game, with a solo homer in the sixth and a two-run double in the eighth, which did nothing more than make a dent in their double-digit deficit.

Although they managed just one less hit than the Tigers, the Yankees were more than doubled up in the final run count, and suffered yet another brutal loss in the middle of this 2000 season. Not only does the blowout sting, the effect is even greater when it comes against a fourth place Tigers team that was now ten games under .500. These are the series that great teams need to almost always take, and this squad couldn’t get it done.

This was the Yankees’ third loss in a row, they were now in the midst of a 3-10 run, and were underwater dating all the way back to April 15th. They would end the day three games behind the surprising Blue Jays in the AL East, and only a half-game up on the barely-.500 Red Sox for third. Five teams in the American League had a better record than the two-time defending champions, who did not look to be in shape to record a third.

Greener pastures were, of course, ahead for this Yankees squad, but things were simply not going their way at this juncture. It’s reminiscent of some of the midseason stall-outs of the more recent Yankee squads, and serves as a great reminder of how long this season really is. Fortunately for the 2000 Yanks, they had a move up their sleeve that would help them get back on the right track.

Read the full 2000 Yankees Diary series here.