After an endurance test: The Yankees lose to the royals

He lasted five innings in the 5-2 loss, allowing four runs, two of them earned, on four hits in his first defeat in his last 16 starts, going back to Aug. 19. Sabathia had not lost at Kauffman Stadium in five previous starts as a Yankee.

Rain postponed his scheduled start on Wednesday in Washington. But the only water in sight Friday night flowed from the outfield fountains at Kauffman Stadium, and manager Aaron Boone hoped the additional rest would benefit Sabathia.

Instead, Sabathia, 37, struggled with his command. He issued four walks, including one that forced in a run, threw 99 pitches and allowed a fifth-inning homer to Salvador Perez, the ball clearing the Yankees’ bullpen in left, where Chasen Shreve was warming up.

Torres had a night as rough as Sabathia’s. In the first inning, he dropped a Perez liner in short center field, recovering to get a forceout at second while a run scored. And in the third he mishandled Jon Jay’s two-out grounder. The ball fell out of Torres’ bare hand as he tried to throw, allowing the first of two runs in the inning. Both were unearned.

The Yankees managed two runs in the sixth on a single by Neil Walker and a sacrifice fly by Torres. With David Robertson relieving in the seventh, Perez doubled past a diving Aaron Judge in right for another run.

The Yankees had encountered a bit of everything two nights earlier, while trying to depart for Kansas City. They ended up doing what is more common for everyday flyers than it is for professional athletes: sleeping at the airport.

Mechanical and labor issues grounded the Yankees’ charter at Dulles International Airport overnight. It did not take off until about 9:30 a.m. Eastern on Thursday, when the Yankees had a scheduled day off.

“Life happens every now and then, and plans get off-kilter,” Boone said Friday.

The Yankees were already thrown off by rain in Washington. Tuesday’s game against the Nationals was suspended after 5 1/2 innings with the score tied, 3-3. Then the resumption of that game and Wednesday night’s scheduled game were both postponed, and rescheduled for June 18. The Yankees boarded their charter for a 10 p.m. departure, but an engine problem forced the 60-person traveling party to change planes.

By the time the second plane was ready, the flight crew had reached its federally mandated limit of time on the clock without rest. It could not fly the plane, and no other crew was available.

With hotels in the greater D.C. area booked because of multiple events, the Yankees could not find enough space. With a minimum of grumbling, players stretched out to sleep on the plane or in the lounge at the terminal.

Judge, who is 6 feet 7 inches, chose the plane. “Once I got comfortable, I was out like a light,” he said. “I had no problems with it, no problems at all. Just a matter of getting comfortable, that’s all.”

Left fielder Brett Gardner said he fell asleep about 5 a.m. and awoke about 8:30 a.m. Catcher Austin Romine curled up in the terminal; he said he did not sleep long or well. Boone said he grabbed a warm blanket and settled in on the plane.

“I actually ended up with six or seven hours sleep, believe it or not,” he said. “It was a little odd waking up and going, ‘Oh, we’re still here.’ And I couldn’t claim jet lag because we weren’t in the air. It worked out OK for me.”

The Yankees finally reached their Kansas City hotel on Thursday about 11:30 a.m. Central. Boone appreciated how his players rolled with the situation.

“They were pros about it,” he said. “There wasn’t a lot of griping. The guys just kind of laughed it off. I’m proud of the way they handled it. The most important thing is, we got here safe, and we had a day off on the back side of it. Hopefully it’s something we’ll look back on and laugh at.”

Inside Pitch

Estevan Florial, a center fielder at Class A Tampa and one of the Yankees’ top prospects, needs surgery to repair a broken hamate bone in his right wrist, manager Aaron Boone said. He could miss up to three months. Florial hurt the wrist in a game on Thursday night.

Boone had a similar injury in 2001, while with the Cincinnati Reds. He was hit by a pitch and was out a month. “Hopefully it’s just a little break in the action for him and he’ll be back for most of the summer,” Boone said.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.