If I were to introduce baseball to a friend, this would have not have been the game to show. It was a rather slow-moving game with a lot of runners clogging up the bases without scoring. Oh yeah, there was a rain delay too. CC Sabathia didn’t have his prettiest outing but the bullpen blew the 1-0 lead in the eighth for the 3-1 loss to the O’s. The old friend #RISPFail really came back to bite the Yanks today. It’s the weekend so let’s do this bullet-style.
- That *One* Run: The Yankees took the lead in the third. With one out, Jacoby Ellsbury squeaked a single by Manny Machado and advanced to second on a wild pitch. After he advanced to third on a Brett Gardner ground out, then A-Rod hit an RBI single for a 1-0 Yankees lead. Just like many other times in this season, that was the only time Yankees were able to drive in a run.
- #RISPFail: The Yankees had runners in scoring position in six different innings, and they only scored one run. They were 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position, which is pretty poor. In the top of fourth, with a 1-0 lead, they had a chance to make it even bigger. However, in the most 2016 Yankees fashion, Aaron Hicks grounded into a force out and Ellsbury struck out to end the inning. How do I feel about this? Consider this video.
- Just Getting By: CC overall did a nice job but it took him 71 pitches to get through three innings. Orioles hitters – especially Joey Rickard, who had a pair of 12-pitch AB’s – really worked him with foul ball after foul ball, and Sabathia himself didn’t display his finest command. He allowed six walks, which ties career high, but he was able to grind through those five innings to not allow any runs. It’s not nest we’ve seen the new Sabathia but I feel like if this were the CC of the previous few years, he would have had a much, much worse line. He still managed to baffle hitters with strikeouts (5 in 5 IP) and soft contact. He can stay.
- The First Attempt to Hold On: I know the Yankees have a strong back of the bullpen but it’s hard to be optimistic about holding a 1-0 lead against the strong O’s offense. In the sixth inning with no outs, Joe Girardi pulled Sabathia out (111 pitches) for Kirby Yates. Yates tossed a solid 2-strikeout scoreless inning and passed the baton to Dellin Betances in the seventh. Dellin tossed a scoreless seventh and came back out for the eighth to get a couple of outs before Girardi summoned Aroldis Chapman. That eight inning started awfully shaky with Betances allowing a walk to Mark Trumbo and single to Chris Davis. After striking out Nolan Reimold, Girardi decided to bring Chapman … and then the umps called for the tarp for the impending storm.
- Blowin’ it: After an hour and 37 minute rain delay, Chapman came into the game to record, hopefully, five outs for a save. He blew away Jonathan Schoop with a 100-mile high heat for a strikeout. Needing only one more to get out of the inning, Chapman allowed a first-pitch single to Tony Pena’s kid Francisco to load the bases. Uh-oh. Next up, on a 0-2 count, pinch-hitter Matt Wieters hit a single to center that plated two and one more on Ellsbury’s throwing error. 3-1 Orioles. Sigh. Like I said, these guys are pretty special arms but not 100% foolproof. The Yankee big 3 pen arms tossed 5.1 IP this series and allowed 4 runs with 2 losses (both charged to Betances). Not a good couple of days for them. Yankees got completely shut down by Zach Britton in the ninth to lose the game.
Here’s today’s box score, video highlights, WPA and updated standings. The Yankees head home for a four-game series with the Angels. Masahiro Tanaka and Matt Shoemaker will be the starters Monday. It’s HOPE Week too. That’s cool.
Source: FanGraphs
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