The Yankees have optioned new acquisition Jake Bird to Triple-A.

The Yankees have sent relief pitcher Jake Bird to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre today, just five days after he was traded from the Rockies.

In his three games with the Yankees, Bird pitched two innings and gave up seven runs (six earned). In last Saturday's shocking 13-12 loss, he surrendered a grand slam to Kyle Stowers of the Marlins.

Yesterday, Bird took the loss after allowing a walk-off three-run homer to Josh Jung in the game against the Rangers. This marked the Yankees' fourth consecutive defeat.

Before being acquired by the Yankees, Bird had a heavy workload with the Rockies; the right-hander appeared in 45 games for Colorado this season, posting a 4.73 ERA over 53.1 innings. Overall, as of yesterday, he had pitched 55.1 innings, ranking seventh among all relievers in the majors—though his recent performance has declined, with an ERA of 24.43 over his last ten appearances (allowing 19 earned runs in seven innings).

Manager Aaron Boone hopes this demotion to the minors will give Bird a chance to regain the form he had earlier in the season.

“We still have a high opinion of him and believe he can help us not only in the short term but certainly in the long term,” Boone said. “So hopefully this demotion can give him a little reset opportunity to get more organized outings and things like that.”

Bird's struggles with the Yankees reflect the long-term issues of their bullpen. This month, the bullpen has an ERA of 6.75, and since early July, it has an ERA of 6.13, ranking second-worst in the majors, only ahead of the Rockies' bullpen at 7.24.

The Yankees were in first place in early July. Now they have dropped to third, trailing the Blue Jays by 5.5 games. Since July 1, New York's record is 12 wins and 17 losses, with a win percentage of .414, tied for seventh-worst in the majors.

Bird's demotion is part of a series of roster moves made by the Yankees on Tuesday, which included the activation of Aaron Judge and Mark Leiter Jr., while fellow trade deadline acquisition Austin Slater was placed on the injured list due to a left hamstring strain.