Sabathia can’t protect lead as Yankees drop second straight to Rays

Source: FanGraphs

I’m out of town this weekend and am doing everything possible to avoid baseball, Yankees or otherwise. So I didn’t see any of Saturday night’s game and I’m glad I didn’t. Two runs wasn’t going to be enough against the high-powered Rays, but, yet again, CC Sabathia was a letdown and unable to preserve the lead. It would help if Joe Girardi stopped treating him like a true ace and had a quicker leash, but what can you do. The Rays have done a real nice job of humbling the Yankees these last two games after their five-game winning streak.

MLB.com has the box score and video highlights, FanGraphs some other stats, and ESPN the updated standings. The Athletics beat the Orioles, so the Yankees are five games back of the second wildcard spot in the loss column. Cool Standings gives them an 8.3% chance to make that postseason. They can’t really afford to lose games like this anymore; there are only 33 games left in the season. Ivan Nova will look to salvage the series on Sunday afternoon against certified Yankees killer Alex Cobb.

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Derek Jeter Update: As planned, Derek Jeter played another seven innings at shortstop for Triple-A Scranton on Saturday. He went 1-for-3 with a single to left, a ground out to short, and a ground out to second. The Cap’n made a throwing error on the only ball that came his way defensively. Jeter will take Sunday off and rejoin the Yankees on Monday for their series opener in Toronto.

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Minor League Update: The day’s box scores are right here. C Gary Sanchez homered, RHP Rafael DePaula walked seven (!) in 4.1 innings, and LHP Ian Clarkin allowed a homer in his second career outing. Not a whole lot happened otherwise.