Yankees fall 10-5 to Rays in 14 ridiculous innings

Source: FanGraphs

What a ridiculous game this was. Five-man infields, base-running blunders, back-to-back homers, a ninth-inning comeback, Carlos Beltran trying to lay down a bunt*, successful challenges by both managers, the stadium crew cleaning the empty Legends Seats before the game was over, the first 0-for-7 in Derek Jeter’s career … this one had it all. And yet, all the Yankees got out of it was their third straight loss and a burnt out bullpen. Good job. The Rays walked away with a 10-5 win in 14 innings in Friday’s series opener.

* To be fair, it would have been the most productive thing he’s done at the plate in a week.

Of course, the Yankees have no one to blame but themselves. They blew opportunity after opportunity in extra innings, stranding runners at third base in the 11th, 12th, and 13th innings. There were other runners on too, but only the guy at third mattered. Ichiro Suzuki grounded out to end the 11th, Alfonso Soriano grounded out to end the 12th, and Jeter grounded out to end the 13th. They had a man on third with fewer than two outs in 13th and still couldn’t get him in. The Yankees went with 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position. Gross.

The eighth and ninth inning comebacks were hardly worth the effort. Mark Teixeira and Soriano clubbed back-to-back homers in the eighth, then Jacoby Ellsbury singled in the tying run with two outs in the ninth. The non-Chris Leroux portion of the bullpen allowed just one run in 8.1 innings, striking out ten. They were awesome. Then Leroux allowed five runs on five hits and two walks in one inning. I have to think he’ll be off the roster tomorrow in favor of a fresh arm, among other reasons.

I don’t think I can muster up any more of a recap than that. MLB.com has the box score, FanGraphs some other stats, and ESPN the updated standings. The Yankees will try to get their collective heads out of their asses in the second game of this series on Saturday afternoon, when Masahiro Tanaka gets the ball against Jake Odorizzi. Other than Tanaka, this team is pretty close to unwatchable right now. Check out RAB Tickets if you want to catch the matinee live.