Results tagged ‘ CC Sabathia ’
Former Yank Dickerson hurts old club
The streak of the Yankees winning games in which they score first came to an end Tuesday night because the Orioles scored last. Nate McLouth’s home run off a 1-1 pitch from Vidal Nuno, the Yankees’ sixth pitcher of the game, was the difference in a 3-2, 10-inning decision. The Yanks had been 19-0 in games when they got on the scoreboard first, which they did again Tuesday night but this time they couldn’t pull it off.
For the second straight night, a Yankees starting pitcher gave up two leads. Monday night it was CC Sabathia in a game the Yanks won also in 10 innings. Tuesday night it was Phil Hughes, once again haunted by the long ball. The culprit was former teammate Chris Dickerson, who touched Hughes for solo blasts in the third inning (climaxing a 10-pitch at-bat) that made the score 1-1 and in the fifth that made it 2-2.
Dickerson hit only three home runs in 64 at-bats for the Yankees in short stretches with the club in 2011 and 2012. He played center field Tuesday night to give Adam Jones a half-night off as the designated hitter and had a 3-for-4 game to raise his 2013 batting average to .371 with three homers and eight RBI.
If not for Dickerson, it would have been a splendid start for Hughes, who was coming off an embarrassing, two-thirds of an inning outing last week against Seattle at Yankee Stadium in which he was clocked for seven earned runs and six hits. The righthander rebounded with a solid, six-inning effort in which he yielded five hits with two walks and five strikeouts. Hughes could not get Dickerson out, which cost him. Phil has given up 10 home runs in 47 1/3 innings.
Travis Hafner drove in both runs for the Yankees with singles that scored teammates who had led off innings with doubles, Brett Gardner in the first and Vernon Wells in the fourth. Orioles starter Miguel Gonzalez proved nearly untouchable after Hafner’s second run-scoring hit as the righthander retired 11 straight batters until David Adams singled with two down in the seventh. Nick Markakis’ diving catch of a liner to right-center by Jayson Nix ended the inning.
Adams was the Yankees’ only base runner after the fourth inning as the Orioles set down 21 of the Yankees’ last 22 batters. Tommy Hunter pitched two scoreless innings for Baltimore, and Jim Johnson added a shutout 10th. Johnson, who had blown his three previous save opportunities, including Monday night, ended up the winning pitcher.
The Yanks’ bullpen was strong, too. Boone Logan, Shawn Kelley, David Robertson and Preston Claiborne followed Hughes with three scoreless innings combined to stretch the pen’s shutout streak on the road to 29 2/3 innings over the past 11 away games, which ended in the 10th. Robertson was particularly impressive by striking out the side in the eighth.
Nuno, the lefthander who won his first major-league start eight days earlier, was recalled from Triple A Scranton to sub for the disabled Andy Pettitte in the rotation, lost his scheduled start to Sunday’s rainout and was plenty fresh to come out of the bullpen. He probably still is. After all, he threw merely three pitches.
O’s closer proves there is only one Rivera
What Yankees fans never see from Mariano Rivera was what Orioles fans witnessed Monday night from Jim Johnson. The Orioles closer, who led the American League is saves last season with 51, sustained his third consecutive blown save, something that Rivera has never done, and the Yankees took advantage of it to come away with a 6-4, 10-inning victory.
Johnson was gone by the time the Yankees scored the deciding runs in the extra inning off Pedro Strop and Brian Matusz with clutch hitting by Vernon Wells and Travis Hafner. Rivera kept the lead intact with his 17th save in 17 opportunities. Johnson began the season with a similar streak with 14 saves before coming unglued in his past three appearances.
Hafner dealt the crushing blow to Johnson this time with a one-out home run in the ninth, the Yankees’ fourth solo shot of the evening in Baltimore’s humid Inner Harbor air. Johnson’s latest failure opened the gates for the Yankees to improve their record in games where they get on the scoreboard first to 19-0 and extend the Orioles’ losing streak to six games.
The Yankees were in danger of losing their first game when they scored first because their offense was reduced to the long ball with no one on base and CC Sabathia blew leads of 2-0 and 3-2. Robinson Cano and Orioles first baseman Chris Davis entered the game tied for the AL lead in home runs with 12 and maintained that tie as each got his 13th in his first at-bat.
David Adams, the rookie who has done so well at third base and turned a few more good plays Monday night, hit his first career home run to put the Yankees up, 2-0, in the second, but Davis made it 2-1 in the bottom of the second and Nick Markakis singled in the tying run in the fifth.
It was a strange start for Sabathia, who allowed a double-digit hit total (11) for the second game in a row (23 total in his past 12 2/3 innings) and had only two strikeouts, although he did not walk a batter. The lefthander is winless in four starts since April 27. Former teammate Freddy Garcia actually pitched better. He allowed the two solo homers and just one other hit with two walks and two strikeouts in six innings.
Lyle Overbay’s leadoff homer in the seventh off lefthander Troy Patton put the Yankees ahead again, but Sabathia couldn’t hold the advantage as the Orioles grabbed the lead on RBI doubles by Markakis and J.J. Hardy. Shawn Kelley stopped the O’s there with two more strikeouts. He added a third in the eighth, which gives the righthander 15 of the past 21 batters he has faced and 33 in 18 1/3 innings for the season.
Baltimore manager Buck Showalter entrusted the lead to Johnson, who began the ninth by retiring Cano on a groundout. Johnson fell behind 3-1 in the count to Hafner, who drove a 94-miles-per-hour fastball over the left field fence for his eighth home run. The Yankees were back in business.
Johnson’s woes have come after a run of 35 consecutive saves dating to last July. He has given up eight earned runs and nine hits in 2 1/3 innings (30.86 ERA) in the three blown saves, which has driven his season ERA from 0.95 to 4.22.
In the 10th, Ichiro Suzuki ran his Camden Yards hitting streak to 20 games with a leadoff double off Strop, a reliever who has struggled against the Yankees. Vernon Wells, riding the bench despite having good career numbers against Garcia (.438, one home run), came up as a pinch hitter for shortstop Reid Brignac and doubled to left to send home Ichiro.
Austin Romine bunted Wells to third, but Wells could not advance as Jayson Nix grounded out. After Cano was intentionally walked, Hafner delivered an insurance run with a line single to right off the left-handed Matusz. Rivera then showed Johnson how it’s done with a 1-2-3 bottom of the 10th.
Hafner. Wells. Overbay. There are those names again. Yankees fans are getting used to seeing these guys do important stuff.
Yankees get ready for Freddy
Sunday’s rainout of the scheduled Yankees-Blue Jays game at Yankee Stadium allowed Yanks manager Joe Girardi to skip Vidal Nuno, who was to start in place of disabled Andy Pettitte, this turn in the rotation and give his regular starters an extra day’s rest.
CC Sabathia, who was to have started Sunday, was to get the call Monday night at Baltimore in the opener of a three-game series and was paired against former teammate Freddy Garcia. The righthander, who has the most career victories (152) of any pitcher born in Venezuela, went to spring training this year with the Padres after signing as a minor league free agent Jan. 29 but was released March 24 and signed with the Orioles five days later.
Garcia entered Monday night’s game with a record of 0-2 and a 5.51 ERA in three starts totaling 16 1/3 innings for the Orioles. In 12 career starts against the Yankees, Garcia is 5-4 with a 4.09 ERA. He pitched for the Yankees in 2011 and 2012 and combined for a 19-14 record with a 4.29 ERA in 42 starts covering 254 innings.
The Yankees were 3-0 in three games last year in which they faced a starting pitcher for the first time since he had pitched for the Yankees. They defeated the Mariners’ Hector Noesi May 12 at Yankee Stadium, 6-2; the Athletics’ Bartolo Colon May 26 at Oakland, 9-2, and the Blue Jays’ Aaron Laffey Aug. 11 at Toronto, 5-2.
The Yankees are catching the Orioles in the throes of a five-game losing streak that has dropped Baltimore into a tie with the Rays for third place in the American League East, four games back of the divison-leading Yanks, so the O’s cannot overtake the Bombers in this series.
Sabathia takes a 17-4 career record with a 3.03 ERA against the Orioles into the game, including 10-3 with a 3.38 ERA at Camden Yards. CC has the second-highest winning percentage (.769) in the ballpark’s history (minimum 15 starts), behind Pettitte’s .800 mark (16-4). Among active pitchers who have never played for the Orioles, Sabathia has the most strikeouts, the second most victories (Pettitte 16), the second most innings (Pettitte 144 2/3) and the second-lowest ERA (Bartolo Colon 3.33) at Camden Yards.
Catcher Austin Romine was in Monday night’s lineup, marking the first Yankees rookie to start three straight games behind the plate since Francisco Cervelli May 8-10, 2009 in a three-game set at Baltimore.
Also in the starting lineup batting eighth and playing shortstop was recent arrival Reid Brignac, who was acquired from the Rockies in a trade Saturday for cash considerations. He will become the 10th different infielder used by the Yankees this season and the 19th different position player. They used 10 different infielders all of the 2012 season. Brignac will become the 14th different player to make his Yankees debut this season, the eighth different Yankee who was not with the club when pitchers and catchers reported for spring training Feb. 12 and the 15th player to play for the Yankees this season who was not with the club last year. Brignac will be the 36th player they have used this year, a figure they did reach in 2012 until July 29 with infielder Ramiro Pena.
A makeup date for Sunday’s rainout has not been scheduled. Fans holding paid tickets for that day’s game may use them for the rescheduled game or exchange their paid tickets for any regular season game at the Stadium during the 2013 season, subject to availability. Fans holding complimentary tickets (COMP) for Sunday’s game must use them for the rescheduled game when that is announced. Complimentary tickets (COMP) or equivalent tickets bear no cash value and do not have any additional benefits that may be offered to ticket(s) with a dollar value.
For complete information about the Yankees’ rainout policy, please visit http://www.yankees.com/rainout. With respect to tickets purchased through Yankees Ticket Exchange, please visit http://www.yankees.com/ticketexchange or call 1-800-355-2396 for complete information about its rainout policy.
Pettitte joins crowded disabled list
The Yankees’ disabled list continued to grow Friday night, adding Andy Pettitte, who came out of Thursday night’s game against the Mariners because of a tight left trapezius muscle. Pettitte said he felt better Friday but understood that he needed more time to get better, which frankly the Yankees do not have right now.
Pettitte’s next scheduled start would have been Tuesday night in Baltimore. He told general manager Brian Cashman that he could long-toss on his regular bullpen day and still be able to make the starting assignment. Pettitte reneged when it was explained to him that the Yankees could not afford to dig into the bullpen if he tightened up early in that game. Cashman pointed out that they lost CC Sabathia early in a rain-delayed game in Denver, had a doubleheader at Cleveland earlier in the week and an abbreviated start Wednesday night from Phil Hughes (2/3 innings).
“I’m frustrated, but it makes sense,” Pettitte said. “I hope we can get it cleared up and I can get back out there. I don’t see why it should be more than that [15 days]. I had high expectations of being able to pitch a full season, but I’ll have to deal with it.”
The Yankees will recall lefthander Vidal Nuno from Triple A Scranton to take Pettitte’s spot in the rotation. Nuno earned his first major-league victory in the second game of the doubleheader Monday with five scoreless, three-hit innings at Progressive Field.
Chris Stewart’s groin injury is not as serious as it might have been. An MRI on the catcher was negative. Stewart is still in some pain, but he is not a candidate for the Yankees’ large disabled list where another catcher, Francisco Cervelli, is among those on the mend. Yankees manager Joe Girardi said that Stewart probably won’t play in the three-game series against the Blue Jays but could catch in an emergency.
Because of that, the Yankees do not plan to add another catcher for this weekend’s series as a backup to Austin Romine. That role for the time being will be filled by utility infielder Alberto Gonzalez, whose primary position is shortstop but who has also already pitched for the Yankees for the first time in his seven-season career. Gonzalez retired the only batter he faced Wednesday night in the Yankees’ 12-2 loss to the Mariners, so his ERA is 0.00.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Tuesday marked only the fourth time since the Cy Young Award was instituted by the Baseball Writers’ Association in 1956 that seven former winners started on the same day. CC Sabathia was among them, along with Felix Hernandez, Clayton Kershaw, R.A. Dickey, Bartolo Colon, Jake Peavy and Barry Zito). It also occurred April 21, 1974 (Vida Blue, Steve Carlton, Mike Cuellar, Bob Gibson, Jim Palmer, Jim Perry and Tom Seaver) and on both April 5 and April 10, 1993 with the same pitchers (Roger Clemens, Doug Drabek, Dwight Gooden, Orel Hershiser, Greg Maddux, Rick Sutcliffe and Bob Welch).
Patrick Vieira, former World Cup-winning soccer star and current head of the Elite Development Squad for Manchester City Football Club, threw out the ceremonial first pitch. Vieira played on five World Cup-winning teams and nine league champions during his career. He made 107 appearances for the French national team, including winning performances at the 1998 FIFA World Cup and 2000 UEFA European Championship. His time as a Manchester City player, which began in January 2010, concluded with an FA Cup Final victory in May 2011, marking the club’s first major trophy in 35 years.
Since retiring from the game in the summer of 2011, Vieira has worked as a Football Development Executive for Manchester City, traveling extensively in an ambassadorial role for the club and its academy. He has spent the last year developing his understanding of the business side of football and working on his UEFA coaching credentials.
Manchester City will make it first appearance at the Stadium in a 5:30 p.m. match Saturday, May 25, against Premier League rival Chelsea FC.
Yanks’ clubhouse revolving door keeps spinning
The door keeps revolving in the Yankees’ clubhouse. Pitcher Dellin Betances was the latest arrival from Triple A Scranton for Thursday night’s series finale against the Mariners. The righthander was 3-2 with a 5.40 ERA in six starts and two relief appearances totaling 28 1/3 innings.
Heading back to Scranton was pitcher Brett Marshall, who made his major-league debut in Wednesday night’s 12-2 loss to Seattle. The righthander threw 108 pitches and allowed five earned runs, nine hits and five walks in 5 2/3 innings but was praised by manager Joe Girardi for saving the bullpen. Marshall deserves credit for taking one for the team in taking punishment to keep the relief corps from having to toil in a lopsided loss.
Betances was the choice for promotion because Marshall would not be available to pitch for at least four days. Adam Warren pitched four innings only three days ago, so the Yankees need a middle-innings reliever who can give them some length. Girardi said that Betances was the most stretched-out of the pitchers at Scranton.
Marshall was one of five players to make their major-league debuts for the Yankees in the first 40 games. The others were pitchers Preston Claiborne and Vidal Nuno and infielders David Adams and Corban Joseph. The Elias Sports Bureau points out that the previous time as many as five players made their big-league debuts with the Yankees within the club’s first 40 games was in 1995 – pitchers Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera, Brian Boehringer and Jeff Patterson and shortstop Derek Jeter.
Adams, who also played in his first major-league game Wednesday night on his 26th birthday, was only the fourth player in 95 seasons to get a hit in his first game on his birthday. The others were the Cleveland Indians’ Dave Clark Sept. 3, 1986 at Toronto, the Atlanta Braves’ Bruce Benedict Aug. 18, 1978 at St. Louis and the Washington Senators’ Sept. 13, 1939 in the second game of a doubleheader at Chicago, according to ESPN Stats & Info.
Another familiar face Thursday night was that of Mariners starter Hector Noesi, who pitched for the Yankees in 2011 and was traded with catcher Jesus Montero to Seattle for pitcher Michael Pineda, who has yet to pitch for the Yankees. Montero was Noesi’s catcher Thursday night.
The Blue Jays come to Yankee Stadium Friday night to open a three-game series. Probable starting pitchers: Hiroki Kuroda (5-2, 2.31) vs. Mark Buehrle (1-2, 6.19) at 7:05 p.m. Friday on Channel 9, David Phelps (1-2, 4.33) vs. Brandon Morrow (1-2, 4.69) at 1:05 p.m. Saturday on YES and CC Sabathia (4-3, 3.19) vs. R.A. Dickey (3-5, 4.83) at 1:05 p.m. on YES. All games are on WCBS Radio (880 AM).
Sunday’s matchup will mark the third time this season that Sabathia, the 2007 American League Cy Young Award winner, will be paired against a fellow recipient of that honor. The other games were April 7 against the Tigers’ Justin Verlander (2011), a 7-0 Yankees victory at Detroit, and May 14 (Tuesday night) against the Mariners’ Felix Hernandez (2010), a 4-3 Yanks victory at the Stadium. CC got the victory over Detroit and a no-decision against Seattle. Dickey was the 2012 National League Cy Young Award winner with the Mets and was traded to the Blue Jays.
Yanks’ bullpen has final say in Cy Young duel
It is not entirely true that the marquee matchup Tuesday night of the Yankees’ CC Sabathia and the Mariners’ Felix Hernandez, a couple of former American League Cy Young Award winners, did not materialize. Each had impact in the game. It is just that the outcome occurred after they had departed.
Neither starter was involved in the decision, although for a time it seemed that Hernandez would be the winner and Sabathia the loser. This was a game that ended up decided by the bullpens. In that case, it is no contest against the Yankees these days.
Shawn Kelley took over for Sabathia in the seventh with the score 3-1 Mariners, runners on first and third with one out and retired Kelly Shoppach on a strikeout and Raul Ibanez on a fly to left. After a botched attempt for a force on a sacrifice bunt gave Seattle runners on first and second with none out in the eighth, David Robertson worked another of his Houdini tricks by striking out Michael Saunders and getting pinch hitter Justin Smoak to line into a double play. Mariano Rivera provided a spotless ninth to make it 16-for-16 in save opportunities this season.
The relievers’ 2 2/3 combined innings extended the pen’s current scoreless streak to nine games covering 23 2/3 innings. The relief corps has pitched to a 0.77 ERA and held opposing hitters to a .161 batting average with seven walks and 36 strikeouts over that stretch.
One of the three runs off Sabathia, who pitched 6 1/3 innings, was not earned due to an error by first baseman Lyle Overbay that led to a run in the third. Overbay would atone for that bobble in the seventh with a sacrifice fly that unlocked a 3-3 score. Overbay had doubled in a run to get the Yankees on the board in the sixth against Hernandez, who came out after that inning because of back spasms. That was the opening the Yankees needed.
Seattle’s bullpen was not the support system for King Felix that the Yankees’ was for CC. Yoervis Molina gave up a leadoff single in the seventh to Chris Nelson and wild-pitched him to second base. One out later, lefthander Charlie Furbush walked left-handed batting Brett Gardner and yielded a two-run, game-tying double to right-center by lefty-swinging Robinson Cano, the Yankees’ only hit in 11 at-bats with runners in scoring position.
Furbush walked Vernon Wells intentionally to get at another left-handed batter, back from the disabled list Curtis Granderson, and walked him quite unintentionally. Overbay, also swinging from the left side, put a charge into a 3-2 fastball for a drive to deep enough center to score Cano with the go-ahead run. The Yanks’ pen handled matters from there.
The other two runs off Sabathia, who walked two batters and struck out 10, came on a home run in the sixth by Ibanez, who returned to Yankee Stadium for the first time since he was a 2012 postseason hero for the Yankees. CC enjoyed when Ibanez poked homers to right field last October against the Orioles and Tigers but not at all when he found his favorite area for homer No. 4 this season.
No one at the Stadium was expected to cheer Ibanez when he homered against the Yankees, but the reaction from the crowd of 41,267 to Ibanez when he first came to the plate, in the second inning, was curious to say the least.
Considering the dramatic impact of his heroics seven months ago, it was somewhat surprising that Ibanez received such a tepid response from the fans, who applauded politely but with few of them standing. There were even some sounds of boos, although that might have been chants of “Ra-oool.” You can never tell when guys have names that rhyme with “boo.” Think of Moose Skowron or Lou Piniella or Goose Gossage, for example.
Rivera could see Ibanez in the dugout in the ninth and was determined to keep him there. Ibanez was in the hole two batters away when Mo ended the game.
Granderson returns for CC vs. Felix matchup
Curtis Granderson, activated from the 15-day disabled list Tuesday, was thrown right into the fire as the starting left fielder and cleanup hitter against the Mariners and Felix Hernandez at Yankee Stadium to open the homestand following a 6-2 trip through Denver, Kansas City and Cleveland.
Granderson played all three outfield positions during his injury-rehabilitation stint at Triple A Scranton. Yankees manager Joe Girardi said that he will use Granderson in each spot, although it appears that left field will be the one where he will play most often. Brett Gardner has done an outstanding job in center field during Granderson’s absence, and Girardi noted that while he has played some left field Ichiro Suzuki is more comfortable in right field.
Center field with the Yankees is one of the sexiest positions in baseball, yet Granderson told reporters before Tuesday night’s game that he is fine with his new surroundings. Just being back in the major leagues is satisfying enough for Granderson, who enjoyed being back at the Stadium where he was also visited by Michael Weiner, executive director of the Major League Players Association. Granderson is the Yankees’ player representative to the union.
Granderson is among several Yankees individual players with good career numbers against King Felix, who entered the game with an 8-5 record and 3.08 ERA in his career against the Yankees. The righthander has been especially tough at the current Stadium with a 4-1 mark and 1.13 ERA.
Granderson is a .273 hitter with two doubles, one triple and two home runs in 55 at-bats against Hernandez. Others with good numbers are Robinson Cano (.366, 2 doubles, 2 homers in 41 at-bats) as well as Ichiro (.400) and Jayson Nix (.500) in a limited number of at-bats. Ichiro is 2-for-5 and Nix 5-for-10.
Missing from the lineup will be designated hitter Travis Hafner, who was scheduled to undergo an MRI on his right shoulder that has been sore for several days. The Yankees hope the situation is not serious, but Hafner has had shoulder problems in the past. Vernon Wells, who had manned left field while Granderson was out, was in the lineup as the DH.
CC Sabathia will start for the Yankees in the matchup of former Cy Young Award winners. This is the pairing of Sabathia, who won the American League Cy Young Award in 2007 with the Indians, and Hernandez, the 2010 AL winner. It marks the fourth time former Cy Young Award winners will meet at the current Stadium after the winning the award. The others were Sabathia against Lee June 16, 2009, Sabathia against Roy Halladay June 15, 2010 and Sabathia against Johan Santana June 20, 2010.
Sabathia took a 12-4 record and 2.46 ERA in his career against the Mariners into the game. He has won each of his past eight starts against Seattle dating to Aug. 13, 2009 with a 1.20 ERA in 60 innings over that stretch.
The unfortunate side of the Granderson transaction is that pitcher Vidal Nuno, who got his first major-league victory in the second game of Monday’s doubleheader at Cleveland, was optioned to Scranton to create roster space. It was the obvious move because having pitched five innings Monday Nuno could not be used for several days. The lefthander, who pitched eight scoreless innings in two appearances for the Yankees, made a strong impression and will be in Scranton’s rotation to get innings and be available if the Yankees need pitching help down the road, which they almost surely will.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Nuno and righthander Adam Warren became the second pair of Yankees pitchers to earn their first career victory and first career save, respectively, in the same game. The others were Alan Closter (victory) and Fritz Peterson (save) July 25, 1971 in the second game of a doubleheader at Milwaukee. Warren was also the winning pitcher of the Yanks’ victory Thursday at Denver. Elias points out that he and Nuno marked the first pair of Yankees pitchers to earn their first major-league victories on the same trip since Matt DeSalvo and Tyler Clippard in May 2007.
The Yankees shut out their opponent in Game 2 of a doubleheader after being shutout in Game 1 of the DH for only the second time in the past 37 years. They also turned the trick on May 12, 2010 at Detroit, dropping Game 1, 2-0, and winning Game 2, 8-0. The Yankees are 4-0 in games immediately following a shutout loss this season, and have gone 30-9 (.769) in such games since 2008 when Joe Girardi took over as manager.
Rain delay washes out CC
The poor weather that has plagued the Yankees-Rockies series at Coors Field drenched CC Sabathia in Thursday’s finale. A 1-hour, 59-minute rain delay forced Yankees manager Joe Girardi to burn Sabathia, who was on quite a roll before the game was interrupted.
Sabathia had retired 11 consecutive batters beginning with a sacrifice fly by Carlos Gonzalez that tied the score at 1 in the first inning through the fourth. A first-inning single by Troy Tulowitzki, who returned to the lineup after not starting the first two games of the series with a groin injury, was the only hit allowed by Sabathia, who walked one batter and struck out two.
The Yankees had a 2-1 lead when rain forced a halt in play. Vernon Wells, who had three hits in Wednesday night’s 3-2 victory, kept up hit hot hitting with a run-scoring single in the first inning off lefthander Jeff Francis. Chris Nelson, whose return to Denver had been relatively quiet in the first two games (1-for-6), doubled and scored the go-ahead run for the Yankees in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Chris Stewart.
The lengthy delay not only caused the departure of Sabathia but also that of Francis, who came into the game with a 7.27 ERA and might have suffered more at the hands of Yankees hitters. Righthander Adam Warren took to the mound for the Yankees in the bottom of the fifth.
Robinson Cano achieved a milestone in the third inning with his 1,500th career hit, an infield single. He did even more damage when play resumed with his ninth home run of the season, a solo shot to right in the fourth inning off righthander Adam Ottavino, who replaced Francis.
That would be the Yankees’ last hit before Lyle Overbay doubled with two out in the ninth to end a stretch of 12 straight batters retired against two Colorado relievers.
The Yankees’ bullpen did its job as well. Preston Claiborne had another impressive outing as he stranded two Rockies base runners in the sixth and got a double play after giving up a leadoff hit in the seventh. The Rockies reached the rookie for two more singles, however, but for the rescue came David Robertson to strike out dangerous pinch hitter Todd Helton. Mariano Rivera made it 13-for-13 in saves with a scoreless ninth.
The series was characterized by good pitching overall. A total of 11 runs were scored by the two teams combined in the three games. This was not your father’s Coors Field.
Yanks’ bats silent against Athletics
You would think that after 13 years of displaying one of the strongest outfield arms in the major leagues that Ichiro Suzuki would not be challenged. Athletics third baseman Josh Donaldson in the sixth inning Friday night learned what so many before him already knew – that trying to take an extra base on Ichiro can be fruitless.
Suzuki played the carom of Donaldson’s drive off the top of the right field fence perfectly and threw a laser-beam relay to shortstop Eduardo Nunez at second base to nail Donaldson trying to stretch his hit into a double.
Oakland manager Bob Melvin had even more bases in mind as he convinced the umpiring crew to review the play when it appeared that a fan in the right field grandstand may have interfered with the ball, which might have made it a home run. After checking the videotape, the umpires upheld the initial ruling.
Yoenis Cespedes, who went to third base on Donaldson’s long single, eventually scored on a single to right by Derek Norris. A wild pitch by CC Sabathia put Norris on second base, but he at least learned a lesson. With two out, Nate Freiman got his third hit off Sabathia, a single to right. Norris, a catcher with not much speed, respected Suzuki’s arm and did not try to score. CC got out of the inning as Luke Montz grounded out.
As successful as Ichiro was in preventing runs, he could not do it alone. It did not take many for the A’s to come away the victor because the Yankees’ offense was shut down in a 2-0 loss. A.J. Griffin scattered six hits over seven-plus innings, one of them a two-strike bunt single by Brett Gardner, an example of the Yankees’ desperation against the righthander.
Sabathia was taken deep on the first pitch of the game. Shortstop Adam Rosales smoked a first-pitch fastball to left-center for his first home run of the season. Sabathia settled down nicely but needed major help from second baseman Robinson Cano to get out of a fifth-inning jam. With runners on first and second and two out, Cano made one of his patented wide-ranging to the left grabs and across-the-body throws from the left side of second base to throw out Jed Lowrie at first base, a dandy of a run-saving play.
CC threw 118 pitches over six innings and allowed two runs, eight hits and two walks with six strikeouts and a wild pitch. He left on the losing side but had been effective enough to keep the Yankees in the game.
So did Adam Warren, who was one of the few bright spots for the Yankees. The righthander came out of the bullpen and supplied three innings of scoreless, two-hit relief with two walks and four strikeouts.
Yanks have had recent success vs. A’s
The Yankees will complete the current homestand with a three-game series against the Athletics Friday night and Saturday and Sunday afternoons. The teams will play each other again June 11-13 at Oakland.
The Yankees have won 32 of the past 44 games against the A’s since the start of the 2008 season, including victories in 18 of the past 26 matchups. The Yankees have also won 10 of the past 14 games and 17 of the past 22 against the A’s at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees have recorded five straight non-losing home series against Oakland and are 27-14 against the A’s at the Stadium since 2004.
At the current Stadium, the Yankees are 14-5 (.737) against Oakland, matching their second-best record against an American League opponent with Texas. The Yanks’ best record at the current Stadium against one team is the 10-3 mark (.769) against Detroit.
CC Sabathia, who will start Friday night’s game, has had only marginal success against the A’s but has been strong in recent outings. Sabathia’s career mark against Oakland is 8-8 with a 4.56 ERA, but he is 6-1 with a 2.47 ERA over his past 11 starts against the A’s.
Francisco Cervelli may be on the disable list, but the catcher will receive a deserving award in a gala event Thursday night at Cipriani in Manhattan. Cervelli will be honored with the Project Sunshine Outstanding Volunteer of the Year Award for 2013. Project Sunshine is a nonprofit organization that provides free educational, recreational and social programs to children and families facing medical challenges. Cervelli has made numerous hospital visits to spend time with children and their families over the past few years.
The first five hitters in the Yankees’ starting lineup Tuesday night against the Astros were all left-handed – Brett Gardner, Ichiro Suzuki, Robinson Cano, Travis Hafner and Brennan Boesch. It was the first time the top five hitters of a Yankees lineup were all lefty swingers since July 28, 1995 when then manager Buck Showalter used Luis Polonia, Wade Boggs, Dion James, Paul O’Neill and Don Mattingly 1-though-5 in a 5-3 loss at Minnesota.
Jack O'Connell
Recent Comments