For the first time since April 14-15, the Yankees have lost consecutive games. T’was a good run. Wednesday’s 3-2 loss to the Rays was very similar to Tuesday’s loss — the Yankees took the lead early, never added on any more runs, and couldn’t hang on. Grumble grumble.
Score Early, Not Often
Once again, the Yankees took control of the game early with a pair of first inning runs. Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner started the game with walks and eventually came around to score on singles by Mark Teixeira and Brian McCann in the first inning. Nice early 2-0 lead! Carlos Beltran struck out looking and Stephen Drew flew out to center, so the score remained 2-0.
The Yankees never did score again even though Nathan Karns didn’t settle in like Chris Archer did Tuesday. Two runners were stranded in the second, one runner was stranded in the fourth, another two were stranded in the fifth, and one runner was left on base in the sixth, seventh, and eighth. The opportunities were there! The biggest came in the fifth, when Teixeira was thrown out at the plate on Beltran’s single. That was a questionable send by third base coach Joe Espada and not just in hindsight. Kevin Kiermaier’s got a great arm and Teixeira’s … well … Teixeira.
Every starter reached base at least once aside from Drew, who played third base and had one misplay. I wouldn’t even call it a misplay, just a hard play he didn’t make. (But Chase Headley probably does.). Ten hits for the Yankees but none for extra bases. Tough to score when you have to string together singles. We learned that the last two years, eh? The dozen strikeouts and home plate umpire Dan Iassogna’s bottomless strike zone didn’t help either. Seriously, look at the strike zone plot. Very low zone. Ain’t all Iassogna’s fault though.
Seven Strong
This one started off really shaky for Adam Warren. Steven Souza Jr. hit his fourth pitch of the night over the fence in center field for a solo homer and four of the first eight batters he faced reached base. Doubles by new Yankees killer Logan Forsythe and Asdrubal Cabrera knotted game up 2-2 in the second, and a Joey Butler bloop single plated the third run. I thought it was catchable, but with Beltran and Jose Pirela trying to run it down … eh.
Back-to-back two-out singles followed in the third inning, then it was a one out walk and single in the fourth, so Warren was again teetering on the edge of a big inning. He’s a capital-B battler though. Say what you will about Warren’s effectiveness as a starter. There’s no denying he’s a bulldog though. Warren was able to bear down, escape the third and fourth innings, then retired all nine batters he faced in the fifth through seventh innings.
Warren set new career highs with seven innings pitched — he hadn’t even complete six innings in any of his first six starts of the season — and seven strikeouts. Three runs on seven hits and a walk in seven innings is much better than what Warren had been giving the Yankees and is perfectly acceptable for what amounts to the team’s sixth starter. Too bad the offense didn’t give him more help. Warren did a helluva job.
Leftovers
This sounds completely ridiculous given the last three weeks or so, but Andrew Miller pitched the eighth inning because he needed the work. He hadn’t pitched since last Friday. Miller struck out the side on ten pitches. Ten pitches? Guess he was rusty.
Didi Gregorius was awarded a stolen base but it was pure luck — catcher Bobby Wilson tried to catch him taking too big a lead off second, so Didi took off for third and Cabrera’s throw to Evan Longoria at the bag was off-line. Run didn’t score though.
I understand why Joe Girardi pinch-hit Headley for Pirela rather than Drew in the eighth inning — replace the rookie, not the veteran, blah blah blah — but I didn’t like it. Drew’s not hitting, Pirela kinda is. Better chance to score by having Headley and Pirela hit than Drew and Headley in my opinion.
And finally, sorry for the late recap. I was sorta busy watching something else.
Box Score, WPA Graph & Standings
Here are the box score, video highlights, and updated standings. Our Bullpen Workload and Announcer Standings pages are things that exist as well. Here’s the loss probability graph:
Source: FanGraphs
Up Next
The four-game series finally concludes Thursday night, when Chase Whitley and Erasmo Ramirez will be on the mound. Apparently Ramirez is starting despite throwing two innings out of the bullpen on Monday. These aren’t your older brother’s Rays, the team that seemed to run a great young starter out there every day.
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