Bullpen melts down in 11-5 loss to Rays

Source: FanGraphs

It was bound to happen eventually. The Yankees came into Friday’s game with five straight wins and the bullpen with 17 consecutive scoreless innings. Both streaks came to crashing halt with an ugly come-from-ahead 11-5 loss to the Rays. Let’s recap the carnage:

• If You’re Going To Blow It, Might As Well Really Blow It: Even without David Robertson, the Yankees’ bullpen had been very strong over the last two weeks or so. They got their collective asses kicked on Friday, with five relievers combining to surrender eight runs on nine hits and one walk in 2.1 innings. Ugly. Adam Warren was on the mound for the biggest blows in the seventh and poor Cesar Cabral failed to retire any of the six batters he faced. Not coincidentally, five of the six were righties. He also plunked three batters. Let us never speak of this meltdown again.
• Early Runs: It looked like the Yankees were headed for another laugher, scoring three runs on Scott Sizemore’s bases-clearing double in the second inning to jump out to early 3-0 lead. Brett Gardner plated another run with a ground out two batters later, then Alfonso Soriano singled in the fifth run later in the game. Five runs is enough to win most nights. This was not most nights.
• Kuroda’s Grind: “Not having it” was a common theme for the pitchers on Friday. Hiroki Kuroda battled his command and his trademark splitter was non-existent all night, and the result was three runs on seven hits in 5.2 innings. He only struck out two. With his splitter not working, Kuroda had nothing to go to in two strike counts and the Rays worked him hard. Hrmph.
• Leftovers: All eleven Rays runs scored with two outs. Ridiculous … Jacoby Ellsbury was the only Yankee with two hits, though Soriano and Yangervis Solarte both singled and walked … the Yankees only had two hits after the ineffective Erik Bedard was knocked out of the game in the fourth … Ichiro Suzuki made an excellent running grab in the ninth that ultimately meant nothing.

MLB.com has the box score and video highlights, FanGraphs some other stats, and ESPN the updated standings. Sometimes, the bullpen is just going to melt down spectacularly. What are you gonna do? These same two teams will play the third game of their four-game series on Saturday night — yes, a stupid Saturday stupid night game — when Ivan Nova squares off against Chris Archer.