Three takeaways from Yankees' series vs. Houston Astros

The Yankees dropped their third consecutive series, losing two of three to the Astros at the Stadium over the weekend.

As the Yankees (62-56) hold on to the third wild card by a half-game, here are three takeaways:

1. The Yankees’ rotation has a length problem

Since the calendar turned to July, Max Fried has not pitched like an ace.

Fried went 10-2 with a 1.92 ERA in his first 17 starts this season, averaging 6.4 innings per start.

In seven starts since? Fried is 2-3 with a 6.00 ERA in 36 innings, an average of 5.1 per outing. He allowed four runs and eight hits in five innings in Sunday’s 7-1 loss .

But the length issue applies to the entire rotation. Sunday marked the 10th straight game in which a Yankees starter failed to throw six innings. The last one to do so was Will Warren,