How Yankees’ Greg Bird grades himself 11 games into return filled with struggles

Yankees first baseman Greg Bird is hitless in his last 11 at-bats and batting .182 since returning from spring ankle surgery.

NEW YORK — Yankees first baseman Greg Bird returned to his locker from a Saturday afternoon hitting session at a Citi Field indoor cage with the barrel of his bat resting on his right shoulder and his right fist wrapped around the knob.

These pre pre-game swings weren’t extra work aimed at escaping his mini slump, as they were just his usual before-game routine.

Yankees put Tanaka on DL, bring back Torreyes | What it means

“Really more of the same for me,” Bird said before grounding out as a pinch-hitter in the Yankees’ 4-3 Subway Series win over the Mets. “I try to stick to what I do.”

Bird is disappointed with what he’s accomplished in his first 11 games back from late March ankle surgery.

Except for a little expected soreness in his foot, Bird says that he feels good.

He says he’s also been feeling good at the plate.

His results haven’t been good.

He’ll go into Sunday night’s ESPN game hitless in his last 11 at-bats and batting .182 for the season with two homers, four RBIs, 13 strikeouts and one walk in 44 at-bats.

Bird feels his biggest problem is he’s letting pitchers off the hook on hittable pitches.

That’s what happened Saturday night when Bird hit for Tyler Austin with runners on the corners and two down in the eighth inning. He got a first-pitch, 92-mph fastball from Mets reliever Anthony Swarzak that split the plate and was chest up. This was a pitch that could have been crushed, but instead Bird hit a slow roller to first base for a rally-killing third out.

“I personally feel a lot of at-bats come down to one pitch,” Bird said. “Take it, hit it, miss it, get out on it … Whatever it is, and especially at the big-league level, you just can’t miss mistakes and I feel like there have been times where I’ve gotten a pitch to hit and I just haven’t hit it.

“I’m all about consistency. The way I would grade me is the consistency hasn’t quite been there in my mind.”

Bird, who is loaded with confidence because he’s raked so often in the past when he’s been healthy, figures he’ll gets better as he continues knocking off rust by getting consistent at-bats.

“For sure, and I think I’ve always done better as time goes on as I get settled in,” Bird said. “But there’s no excuse for it always. You’ve just got to do better and you’ve got to capitalize on mistakes. When you’re facing guys like (Mets ace Jacob) deGrom and backend of the bullpen guys, you just can’t miss mistakes. You work hard to get that pitch and you’ve got to capitalize on it.”

Bird has had a bad last few days.

In Friday night’s series opener against the Mets, he was 0 for 4 with two strikeouts and a double-play grounder facing deGrom in the Yankees’ 4-1 win.

In his previous game, Bird was 0 for 6 with four flyouts and two groundouts last Wednesday night when the Yankees won in Toronto 3-0 in 13 innings.

“I fouled some back and took some against deGrom,” Bird said. “It’s just a game of inches. It’s little things always. But that’s part of the process. I think understanding that is a good thing. You can gauge where you’re at and work on it.

“All in all, it’s been a good couple of weeks being back. I think we’ll get it ironed out here. But at the end of the day, we’re winning ballgames.”

The Yankees improves their best-in-baseball record to 42-18 by winning Saturday night and they’re 10-3 since Bird came off the DL on May 26.

The Yankees’ offense, despite struggles from Bird and others such as Gary Sanchez, continues to pile up runs.

“It’s fun to be part of this team right now,” Bird said. “We do a good job of wearing pitchers down. We stick to our plan and that’s really important. That makes it tough on a pitcher knowing they have to be perfect the whole game or else something is going to happen. If they start to slide, we’re going to jump on them.

“We’re going to strike out some, but there’s a method to the madness.”

Bird expects to be a major contributor to this madness very soon.

“I’m getting back into the everyday grind of baseball, which I love,” he said. “That’s how you figure it out … getting back into it. I’m a big believer in little things change and all of sudden you have two homers instead of two flyball outs, you’ve got a walk instead of a strikeout. It can change quickly.”

Randy Miller may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.