River Avenue Blues

Source: FanGraphs

Sometimes three runs is enough. The Yankees jumped out to an early lead then held on for dear life on Saturday afternoon, beating the Orioles by the score of 3-2. Let’s recap their first win of the series:

• Three-Run Third: The Yankees had four hits all game and three came in the span of four batters in the third inning. Brian McCann hit a solo homer, Mark Teixeira drew a walk, Chris Young doubled, and Antoan Richardson singled in Teixeira. Young then stole home when Richardson stole second and rookie catcher Caleb Joseph tried to throw him out. There’s all three runs and three of the four hits on the afternoon. Good thing they bunched the hits together.
• Greene Grinds: Shane Greene really had to work on Saturday, especially early. Seven of the first 15 Orioles reached base but that only led to one run, on Nelson Cruz’s single to center in the third. Greene had to throw 71 pitches in those first three innings, but he shook it off to retire eight of the final nine batters he faced on 41 pitches. He struck out five of those final nine hitters and had nine strikeouts in the game overall. Two runs on seven hits and one walk in 5.1 innings isn’t particularly pretty, especially when you throw 112 total pitches, but Greene showed some moxie and found a way to grind through it.
• Bullpen: With Dellin Betances unavailable to due to his multi-inning appearance on Friday, Joe Girardi had to mix and match for those final eleven outs. Esmil Rogers got three outs (line out, strikeout, walk, sac bunt), Josh Outman got two outs (fly out, ground out), Shawn Kelley got three outs (single, fly out, two ground outs), and David Robertson got the final three outs (single, sac bunt, two ground outs). I didn’t expect Robertson to be available after throwing a season-high 35 pitches in 1.2 innings on Friday, but there he was. Maybe they’re just getting their money’s worth before he hits free agency this winter.
• Leftovers: Derek Jeter went 0-for-3 with a walk and is in an ugly 0-20 slump. He is down to .251/.300/.300 (68 wRC+) on the season. The end of this Hall of Fame career has been far from pretty … the only non-third inning base hit was Martin’s Prado infield single in the eighth. Jeter, Brett Gardner, McCann, and Teixeira (two) each drew walks. The wrap-around 9-1-2-3 portion of the lineup went a combined 0-for-14 with two walks … the Yankees beat the Orioles for the first time in six tries and only the fourth time in 14 games this season. With the win, New York can not be eliminated from the AL East race this series.

MLB.com has the box score and video highlights, FanGraphs some other stats, and ESPN the updated standings. The Yankees are currently 4.5 games back of the second wildcard spot and they could end the day four games back depending on the other games tonight. The top of the wildcard race is bonkers right now. FanGraphs puts New York’s postseason odds at 0.7% with 14 games to go. Hiroki Kuroda and Chris Tillman will be the pitching matchup in Sunday night’s finale. Yes, it is the ESPN game.

Source: FanGraphs

One run in 20 innings. The Yankees played 20 innings in hitter friendly Camden Yards on Friday, and they scored just one run. That was a solo homer by Chris Young in the first game of the doubleheader. Pretty gross. The Yankees dropped the nightcap by the score of 5-0. Let’s recap the second loss of the day:

• Mitchell’s First Start: Rookie right-hander Bryan Mitchell held his own in his first career MLB start, limiting the Orioles to two runs on six hits and two walks in five innings. He struck out two, got six ground ball outs, six fly ball outs, and threw 48 of 84 pitches for strikes (57%). That includes seven swings and misses. Mitchell was on an 80-90 pitch limit. Considering he hadn’t pitched in a real game in close to two weeks and had to deal with the usual first career start jitters, he did a fine job.
• Death By Bullpen: David Phelps made his first appearance since since early-August after being activated off the disabled list Friday morning. He got two quick outs, walked the next three batters, then allowed a two-run single to Delmon Young to make it 4-0 O’s. The ball ate up Stephen Drew, who should have made a play on it, but hey, Phelps shouldn’t have walked three straight batters with two outs either. Chaz Roe allowed another insurance run because he’s Chaz Roe. The two lefties (Josh Outman and Rich Hill) combined to retire all four batters they faced.
• Four Singles: The Yankees’ offense was held to four singles — one an infield bunt single — in the shutout loss. Young, Jacoby Ellsbury, Brett Gardner, and Antoan Richardson had the hits. Gardner and Ichiro Suzuki drew the only walks. Pretty pathetic display by the offense in a season full of them. The Yankees were shut out for the third time in the last eight games, the fourth time in the last 13 games, and the ninth time this season overall.
• Leftovers: I don’t think there’s anything else left to cover from this game. Not a whole lot of action aside from everything above. The Yankees have now dropped five straight games to the Orioles and are 3-10 against them on the season. They’ve been outscored 67-32. The division elimination number is down to four, meaning any combination of Orioles wins and Yankees losses totaling four will mathematically eliminate New York from the AL East race. Could happen this series.

MLB.com has the box score and video highlights while ESPN has the updated standings. There are some other stats at FanGraphs. The Yankees are currently five games back of the second wildcard spot and could be 5.5 games back by the end of the night. Their elimination number in the wildcard race is 13. FanGraphs has their postseason odds at 1.5%. Shane Greene and Miguel Gonzalez will be the pitching matchup on Saturday afternoon.