Source: FanGraphs
That was not the best way to start the most important series of the season (to date!). The Yankees and Orioles needed extra innings to determine Friday’s series opener, which ended with New York’s sixth walk-off loss of the season. They had seven such losses last year. The O’s won 3-2 in ten innings. Let’s recap the loss:
- Two Homers: In what was a pretty cool moment, Brian Roberts hit a solo homer on the very first pitch he saw as a visiting player in Camden Yards. The home crowd was mostly indifferent. Just a few cheers and not what I expected for a guy like Roberts. Anyway, that was New York’s first run. Kelly Johnson plated the second one inning later with a solo homer of his own. It was his sixth of the year and first away from Yankee Stadium. Thus concludes the run-scoring portion of the recap.
- Wild Kuroda: On the surface, two runs on three singles and no walks in seven innings seems pretty damn awesome. Hiroki Kuroda was very wild though — the lack of walks had more to do with Baltimore’s general impatience than his strike-throwing — hitting two batters and uncorking three (very) wild pitches. The Orioles scored those two runs on one hit in fourth inning. Two wild pitches and two hit batters contributed to the rally. Kuroda really had to battle himself but ultimately gave the team a quality outing.
- Offense Asleep: Ichiro Suzuki hit a ground-run double with one out in the fourth inning, putting men at second and third with one out. Yangervis Solarte popped out and Johnson flew out to end the threat, and the Yankees did not pick up another hit until Brian McCann singled leading off the ninth. A botched bunt contributed to that failed rally. Twenty of the final 23 batters the Yankees sent to the plate made outs. Orioles pitchers threw 14 total pitches in the eighth and tenth innings. Click this.
- Leftovers: The top four hitters in the lineup went a combined 1-for-19 (.053) with five strikeouts while the bottom five hitters went 6-for-18 (.333) … Ichiro went 2-for-4 with two doubles, his sixth and seventh extra-base hits of the season … Dellin Betances struck out three and hit a batter in two scoreless innings … Adam Warren served up the walk-off loss on a Manny Machado double/Nick Hundley single combination … the Yankees drew one walk in ten innings and have a measly 5.5% walk rate in the last 15 games … with the loss, the Yankees are 17-19 against the AL East and 46-46 overall this season.
MLB.com has the box score and video highlights, FanGraphs has some other stats, and ESPN has the updated standings. The Yankees are now five games back of the Orioles for first place in the AL East and, depending on the outcome of the late game, they will be either 2.5 (Mariners lose) or 3.5 (Mariners win) games back of the second wildcard spot. Shane Greene will be asked to stop the bleeding on Saturday afternoon, when he’ll be opposed by Chris Tillman. A win would be cool.
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