After his team’s latest hollow effort to score runs, Yankees Manager Joe Girardi could only raise his arms in mock surrender.

There was no comforting explanation for why the weekend’s rest did not reawaken Alex Rodriguez’s bat, why Brett Gardner and others looked sluggish, why two fielders could not produce a key out at first base, and why a homestand that began with such promise ended at five wins and five defeats, after a 6-2 loss to the Houston Astros on Wednesday afternoon.

“We’re just not hitting,” Girardi said. “That’s been the root of our problems.”

A baffling slump has reached its fourth week. The Yankees appeared to be treating Thursday’s day off like a loan from the heavens, clearing quickly out of a quiet clubhouse, aware that the countdown to Friday’s game at Atlanta was ticking. Time has been working against this veteran team, and the aches and strain of 126 games have manifested themselves in the summer’s heat.

“It’s the end of August,” Gardner said. “I don’t know if anybody necessarily feels great.”

After winning the first game of the series, 1-0, the Yankees had just nine hits across the next 18 innings. Any hope that Tuesday’s embarrassing 15-1 loss might galvanize the offense flickered out quickly. Since sweeping the Minnesota Twins in the first three games of their homestand, the Yankees have lost five of the next seven and have fallen behind the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League East standings.