Bullpen implodes as Yankees blow six run lead
The Yankees came into Tuesday’s
bout with the Blue Jays on a bit of a roll, winning five of their last six
games. The Yankees unfortunately were facing off against one of the best
pitchers in the American League this year in Marco Estrada. In two previous starts
against the Yankees this season, Estrada was lights out. He allowed just three
runs over 15 innings while striking out eight, which was good enough for a 1.80
ERA.
After a quick top of the first
inning for Michael Pineda, everyone’s favorite bilingual shortstop got the
scoring off with a bang, launching his 16th home run of the year and
it didn’t just stop there. Tuesday was Gary Sanchez’s night. He left the yard
for his third career home run in the second inning into the visitors bullpen,
but he wasn’t done. He came up in the fourth inning again, following a Starlin
Castro single and a Brian McCann walk and hit a mammoth home run into the
second deck in the left field stands.
After Pineda faced the minimum in
the top of the fifth inning, the skies opened up and forced the game into a
rain delay. The game was delayed for 44 minutes before play resumed and that
was long enough to knock Pineda out of the game. Before he left, he was
excellent. He threw five shutout innings while only allowing four hits. It was
an unfortunate delay for “Big Mike” as he only threw 68 pitches and was likely
going to save the Yankees bullpen. This marks two consecutive solid outings
from Pineda that is something the Yankees really needed from the big
right-hander; consistency.
The Yankees offense didn’t cool
off when they hit in the bottom of the sixth, as Didi Gregorius continued his
hot hitting, driving a single right back up the box to score Chase Headley
after Headley doubled in front of him. But holding the Blue Jays scoreless in
two consecutive games wasn’t going to happen.
The Jays saw Anthony Swarzak take
the mound for the Yankees in the sixth and their eyes lit up. Swarzak got
rocked, He allowed four runs total, including two home runs, one to Troy
Tulowitzki and one to Russell Martin. Tommy Layne was able to come into the
game and retired the final batter in the sixth inning.
After a dominant seventh inning
from Tyler Clippard, Adam Warren entered in the eighth inning with a two-run
lead. That lead quickly evaporated after a leadoff walk to Josh Donaldson
followed by a two-run moonshot by the league leader in RBI, Edwin Encarnacion. The
Jays didn’t stop there, however, as Russell Martin belted another home run,
giving the Jays at two run lead in the eighth.
Things didn’t get better once the
skipper didn’t took Adam Warren out and inserted Chasen Shreve into the game.
Shreve faced five batters and every single one reached, as he allowed four
earned runs putting a cap on Toronto’s eight-run eighth inning.
When you’re up 6-0 on a team in
front of you in the standings, you have to capitalize. This is a game you chalk
up as a tough loss. The Yankees had been playing extremely well and a loss like
this could really put a damper on the rest of their season.
Win: Scott Feldman (6-4, 3.71 ERA): 3.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R (1 ER), 0 BB, 5 K
Loss: Adam Warren (4-3, 3.18 ERA): 0.1 IP, 3 H, 4 R (4 ER), 1 BB, 0 K, 2 HR
Notables:
Michael Pineda; 5.0 IP, 4 H, 2
K, 0 BB
Gary Sanchez; 3-for-4, 2 HR (4),
4 RBI, 2 R
Didi Gregorius; 2-for-4, HR
(16), 2 RBI, R
Anthony Swarzak: 0.2 IP, 4 H, 4 R (4 ER), 0 BB, 2 K, 2 HR
Chasen Shreve: 0.0 IP, 2 H, 4 R (4 ER), 2 BB, 0 K
Blake Parker: 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
Anthony Swarzak: 0.2 IP, 4 H, 4 R (4 ER), 0 BB, 2 K, 2 HR
Chasen Shreve: 0.0 IP, 2 H, 4 R (4 ER), 2 BB, 0 K
Blake Parker: 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
Troy Tulowitzki; 4-for-5, HR
(21), 2 RBI, 2 R
Russell Martin; 2-for-4, 2 HR
(12), 3 RBI, 2 R
Edwin Encarnacion; 2-for-5, HR
(34), 3 RBI, 1 R
Article by: James Grande
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@The_Real_Grande
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