Soto on Yankees' slide: Nobody said it's easy to roll to World Series

New York Yankees outfielder Juan Soto understands there will be some bumps in the road during a long baseball season.

"There's going to be ups and downs throughout the year," said Soto after Friday's 8-1 loss to the Atlanta Braves, according to Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. "Nobody said it's going to be easy to go through the whole year. Nobody says it's going to be flowers to roll all the way to the World Series."

The Yankees allowed 51 runs over their past six games, which resulted in five losses against the Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles, and Braves.

Left-hander Carlos Rodón was the latest starting pitcher to get roughed up, allowing seven earned runs on 11 hits (three homers) with three strikeouts and two walks over a season-low 3 2/3 innings.

"It's been a rough week for us," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. "That's part of it. In a lot of ways, it's not the worst thing to happen. I want to make sure in a lot of areas we're tightened up. Everything's kind of gone our way, and it's a reminder that, hey, this thing is hard."

New York still leads the majors with 51 victories despite the recent slump and has a half-game lead over the Orioles in the AL East entering Saturday's action.