Source: FanGraphs
That walk-off loss would be more annoying if it didn’t feel so inevitable. I just didn’t expect Andrew Miller to give it up. The Yankees dropped their second straight game to the Padres on Saturday night, this one by the score of 2-1. West Coast night games get bullet point recaps, so here we go:
- Ivan’s Good Start: For the first time in a long time, Ivan Nova put together a solid start. Better than solid, really. He held the Padres to one run on four hits and a walk in 5.1 innings while striking out seven. The run scored with Dellin Betances on the mound; Nova walked Wil Myers, was pulled, then Betances allowed a stolen base and a stupid little defensive half-swing double to Matt Kemp. I thought only Didi Gregorius was allowed to do that? Anyway, that was a much-needed good start from Nova.
- Run, Singular: Drew Pomeranz is a very good pitcher having a great year, but with these Yankees, it’s impossible to tell if the pitcher had a good night or if the offense was just being its usual self. Pomeranz held New York to one run in seven innings, and the run scored on Starlin Castro’s sixth inning ground out. Jacoby Ellsbury’s double and Brett Gardner’s infield single set it up. Unfortunately they couldn’t get Gardner home from second after Castro’s fielder’s choice, so one run was all the Yankees scored, both in that inning and in the game in general.
- Battle of the Bullpens: Neither Betances nor Miller were especially sharp, but they did throw scoreless seventh and eighth innings, respectively. Joe Girardi opted to send Miller out for the ninth inning as well, which was perfectly cool with me, but he missed his spot with his fastball and the player formerly known as B.J. Upton hit a walk-off solo homer on the first pitch of the bottom of the ninth. It was gone off the bat. Upton crushed it into the second deck of the Western Medal Supply Building. When the top relievers are blowing games, it’s time to put the entire roster on the lawn with a “For Sale” sign.
- Leftovers: Ellsbury and Gardner both went 2-for-4 with a double. Everyone else went 2-for-24 (.083) … Rob Refsnyder threw a runner out at the plate from right field, which was cool … the game featured three replays that totaled nearly ten minutes in review time. The Yankees were on the winning side of all three … the Yankees scored first for the first time in nine games, not that it helped … now that they’re 39-41 on the season, the Yankees are guaranteed to finish the first half with a losing record for the first time since 2007 and only the second time since 1992. They were 40-41 after 81 games in both 1992 and 2007.
Here are the box score, video highlights, and updated standings. Now here are our Bullpen Workload and Announcer Standings pages. The Yankees and Padres wrap up this three-game series Sunday afternoon. That’s a 4:40pm ET start. No more West Coast night games until August. Spot starter Chad Green and trade bait Andrew Cashner will be on the mound in the series finale.
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