For whatever reason Major League Baseball continues to schedule two-game series, so the Yanks had no choice to pack lightly and head down to Baltimore to have a couple of swings with the Orioles.
The Monday night game pitted Ivan Nova against Jason Hammel, both sporting 4-1 records for the season. Nova was rather sloppy on the mound, and wasn't helped out by suffering a contusion on his foot from a line drive hit by Nick Markakis. Later on, Nova twisted his ankle coming off the mound to field a chopper hit back to him, which now puts his next start in jeopardy.
The offense bailed Nova out of a 2-0 hole, and even took the lead when Curtis Granderson blasted a homerun deep off of Hammel. The Bombers fell behind again 5-3, but were able to rally to load the bases in the 6th and tie the score 5-5, then in the 7th the struggling Mark Teixeira hit his biggest homerun of the season. The two-run shot put the Yanks ahead 7-5 and they added on another run in the 9th for good measure. Eric Chavez did his best impression of Luis Castillo by not fielding a routine pop up to third base to end the game and forced Rafael Soriano to throw a few more pitches to save the 8-5 win.
After the game Yankees manager Joe Girardi gave the excellent news that the new closer David Robertson had been experiencing discomfort in his shoulder and the next day was placed on the 15-day DL. This makes Rafael Soriano the third official closer within the week and places more responsibility on the shoulders of Clay Rapada and Cody Eppley.
The Yankees ace CC Sabathia took his 5-0 record to the mound and the fact he has gone 8 innings in basically all his starts this season might've taken its toll. The big guy wasn't sharp at all and fell behind to the Orioles by a 4-0 score. Facing the Yanks was a lefty with the last name Chen, and since Bruce Chen is still with the Royals, it has to have been Wei-Yin Chen. The Yankee offensive was completely powerless until the 7th inning when Curtis Granderson hit an opposite field homer which barely got over the wall (and likely interfered with by a Yankees fan in the stands) and cut the Orioles lead 4-2.
With a somewhat diminished bullpen, Girardi went with Freddy Garcia, who hadn't pitched in weeks, and a key moment occurred when Adam Jones went to steal second and even though the replay showed him out, the ump called him safe. Jones came in to score on a passed ball that Chris Steward wasn't able to catch (his second of the game) which made a Yankee comeback even more difficult at 5-3. With that, the Yanks started the 8th inning with a golden chance to accomplish the feat. Orioles reliever Pedro Strop walked the first two batters he faced which put two runners on with no outs and the number two, three, and four hitters due up to bat. With a night of bad ump calls, inept offense, poor defense, the 8th inning wouldn't be any better for the Yanks. Swisher grounded out and Cano followed with a doubleplay that got Strop out of the jam. Jim Johnson came on in the 9th for the Orioles to get the save and build a 2.5 game lead over the Yanks in the AL East standings.
At 20-16 the Yankees cross the border to go to Toronto for another all-important two game set before the first round of interleague play begins...
The Monday night game pitted Ivan Nova against Jason Hammel, both sporting 4-1 records for the season. Nova was rather sloppy on the mound, and wasn't helped out by suffering a contusion on his foot from a line drive hit by Nick Markakis. Later on, Nova twisted his ankle coming off the mound to field a chopper hit back to him, which now puts his next start in jeopardy.
The offense bailed Nova out of a 2-0 hole, and even took the lead when Curtis Granderson blasted a homerun deep off of Hammel. The Bombers fell behind again 5-3, but were able to rally to load the bases in the 6th and tie the score 5-5, then in the 7th the struggling Mark Teixeira hit his biggest homerun of the season. The two-run shot put the Yanks ahead 7-5 and they added on another run in the 9th for good measure. Eric Chavez did his best impression of Luis Castillo by not fielding a routine pop up to third base to end the game and forced Rafael Soriano to throw a few more pitches to save the 8-5 win.
After the game Yankees manager Joe Girardi gave the excellent news that the new closer David Robertson had been experiencing discomfort in his shoulder and the next day was placed on the 15-day DL. This makes Rafael Soriano the third official closer within the week and places more responsibility on the shoulders of Clay Rapada and Cody Eppley.
The Yankees ace CC Sabathia took his 5-0 record to the mound and the fact he has gone 8 innings in basically all his starts this season might've taken its toll. The big guy wasn't sharp at all and fell behind to the Orioles by a 4-0 score. Facing the Yanks was a lefty with the last name Chen, and since Bruce Chen is still with the Royals, it has to have been Wei-Yin Chen. The Yankee offensive was completely powerless until the 7th inning when Curtis Granderson hit an opposite field homer which barely got over the wall (and likely interfered with by a Yankees fan in the stands) and cut the Orioles lead 4-2.
With a somewhat diminished bullpen, Girardi went with Freddy Garcia, who hadn't pitched in weeks, and a key moment occurred when Adam Jones went to steal second and even though the replay showed him out, the ump called him safe. Jones came in to score on a passed ball that Chris Steward wasn't able to catch (his second of the game) which made a Yankee comeback even more difficult at 5-3. With that, the Yanks started the 8th inning with a golden chance to accomplish the feat. Orioles reliever Pedro Strop walked the first two batters he faced which put two runners on with no outs and the number two, three, and four hitters due up to bat. With a night of bad ump calls, inept offense, poor defense, the 8th inning wouldn't be any better for the Yanks. Swisher grounded out and Cano followed with a doubleplay that got Strop out of the jam. Jim Johnson came on in the 9th for the Orioles to get the save and build a 2.5 game lead over the Yanks in the AL East standings.
At 20-16 the Yankees cross the border to go to Toronto for another all-important two game set before the first round of interleague play begins...
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