Miserable fifth inning shows where Yankees are most vulnerable

Peraza started the sequence on an infield single from Myles Straw. The four-year veteran gathered and stepped into his throw, which missed the mark and went past first baseman Paul Goldschmidt.

Volpe followed with a nearly identical play, missing Goldschmidt with a poor throw that took him off the first base bag.

The two offer little at the plate, combining to go 1-for-6 in Monday's series-opening loss, New York's fifth consecutive to the AL East-leading Blue Jays (59-41). With its defensive shortcomings, New York has a massive void in its lineup that is impossible to ignore.

Volpe has been the AL's worst fielding shortstop all season. He's committed an AL-high 12 errors and has the third-worst fielding percentage (.967) among all among major league shortstops, ahead of only Cincinnati Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz (.965) and San Francisco Giants shortstop Willy Adames (.965).

Volpe also has an ugly .214/.286/.394 slash line with 94 strikeouts. Per Baseball Savant, he ranks in the 85th percentile in chase rate (22%).

Peraza entered Monday with a .978 fielding percentage at third but is an even bigger liability in the batter's box, slashing .150/.212/.242 in 125 plate appearances.

Over the past month, the Yankees (55-45) have gone from holding a 1.5-game lead in the division on June 21 to falling four games behind first.

With the trade deadline nearing on July 31, New York must be active over the next 10 days to reclaim its division lead. Thanks to Monday's brutal fifth-inning sequence, the Yankees should know where they need to focus their attention.