Source: FanGraphs
Despite the eventful ninth inning, it wasn’t worth staying up for that game. I hope you didn’t. The Yankees opened their ten-game road trip with a 7-6 loss to the Padres Friday night. Back under .500 they go. The Yankees are now 39-40. West Coast night games get bullet point recaps, so let’s get to it:
- More Eovaldi Struggles: Apparently Nathan Eovaldi and Michael Pineda are not allowed to be good at the same time. Earlier this year Eovaldi was great and Pineda stunk. Now that Pineda has turned things around, Eovaldi’s been awful. He allowed six runs (two dingers) in 4.1 innings Friday night, and three of those runs came in the very first inning. The Yankees were in a hole immediately. Eovaldi has now allowed 31 runs and 57 baserunners in his last 30.1 innings, including 12 home runs. He looks nothing like the guy we saw a few weeks ago. It wouldn’t shock me if Eovaldi lands on the DL at some point soon. Something’s not right.
- The Amazing, Disappearing Offense: The Yankees loaded the bases against Colin Rea in the first inning and did not score, in part because Jacoby Ellsbury misread Mark Teixeira’s single off the bat. He should have scored from second on the bloop to center, rather easily too, but he held up and only made it to third. To be fair, Ellsbury made up for it with an RBI single in the second. Rea was behind in the count all night — he threw a first pitch strike to only eleven of 24 batters — but somehow managed to retire 13 of the 15 final batters he faced. Sigh.
- Too Little, Too Late: To their credit, the Yankees did put up a fight in the ninth. Brian McCann homered in the sixth for the team’s second run, then, in the ninth, a walk (McCann) and a hit-by-pitch (Starlin Castro) put the wheels in motion. Pinch-hitter Alex Rodriguez singled in a run, Didi Gregorius doubled in another run, Aaron Hicks fielder’s choice-ed in another run, and Brandon Mauer wild pitched in a fourth run. That cut the deficit to 7-6. Pinch-hitter Carlos Beltran doubled to put the tying run in scoring position, but alas, Ellsbury and Brett Gardner grounded out to end the game. Almost.
- Leftovers: Ellsbury had yet another catcher’s interference. This one led off the game and he literally knocked the catcher’s glove off his hand. It was Ellsbury’s seventh CI, one short of Roberto Kelly’s single-season record … the only when losing relievers allowed an unearned run in 3.2 innings … Conor Mullee left the game because he felt something in his fingers. That stinks. Hope it’s nothing serious. He’s had more than his fair share of injuries over the years … A-Rod had his glove and was ready to play third had the Yankees tied the game in the ninth. He looked like a kid on Christmas morning. I wanted the Yankees to tie it just to see Alex in the field again. Alas.
Here are the box score, video highlights, and updated standings. Also make sure you check out our Bullpen Workload and Announcer Standings pages. The Yankees and Padres continue this series Saturday night — yes, a Saturday night game on the West Coast — when Ivan Nova and Drew Pomeranz will be on the mound.
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