Yuck. Sunday afternoon started with the Yankees retiring No. 46 and dedicating a plaque in Monument Park in honor of Andy Pettitte, but the fun stopped there. They dropped the thoroughly disappointing series finale to the Indians by the score of 4-3.
Bum Knee
The Yankees, who are already thin on rotation depth, lost their leader in innings pitched Sunday afternoon. CC Sabathia exited the game with right knee pain in the third inning, after allowing two runs on a Carlos Santana two-run home run. It was a no joke homer. CC missed out over the plate with an 88 mph nothingball and Santana hit it into the visitor’s bullpen in the first inning. Statcast says it traveled 430 feet.
Sabathia walked four batters in 2.2 innings and looked out of sorts all afternoon. It was clear from the get-go this was going to be an ugly start. His velocity was down even compared to his other starts on normal rest, and Sabathia struck out just one batter, the last one he faced. He threw the pitch, got Yan Gomes to swing and miss, then trainer Steve Donohue came out and Sabathia left the game. It was not good. The Yankees are running out of rotation caliber arms.
A Missed Opportunity
With no outs in the third inning, the Yankees had two runners on base and a 3-0 count on No. 3 hitter Carlos Beltran. They needed the Indians to make an error to score that inning. Beltran swung at the 3-0 pitch and hit it to the warning track for the first out. He hit it well, but Trevor Bauer leads the AL in walks and had thrown six of his last seven pitches out of the zone. Odds of him throwing three strikes before one ball were low. Not sure I like swinging 3-0 there.
Jacoby Ellsbury advanced to third on Beltran’s fly ball, then scored on Brett Gardner’s stolen base attempt. Gomes made a high throw to second, the ball deflected off Fransisco Lindor’s glove at the apex of his jump, and hopped away from the infield. Ellsbury was able to trot in for the run. Brian McCann and Greg Bird both struck out looking to strand Gardner at second. That inning went from potentially great to a letdown in a hurry. Huge moment in the early innings.
Bullpen Marathon
Once Sabathia was out of the game, Joe Girardi did that thing where he uses his entire bullpen in reverse order of his trust in the relievers. Nick Rumbelow replaced Sabathia and was charged with a run in two innings. A Chase Headley throwing error set the rally up in the fifth — Headley made a poor throw but Bird won’t see an easier hop the rest of the year, it was right at his chest and he whiffed — before Gardner and John Ryan Murphy teamed up for a damage-limiting double play.
The Tribe had runners on the corners with no outs, Santana hit a lazy fly ball to left, and Gardner was able to throw Mike Aviles out at home. Murphy did a great job coming out in front of the plate to catch the throw, then leaning back to apply the tag in one motion. Pretty slick play. Rumbelow intentionally walked pinch-hitter Jason Kipnis, then Branden Pinder came in and walked the next two batters, the second with the bases loaded. That was the run charged to Rumbelow. Blargh.
Pinder allowed a single and walked another batter in the sixth, but did not allow a run. He got two quick outs in the seventh before allowing a triple to Abe Almonte. Next up on the trust depth chart: Chasen Shreve. He struck out Jerry Sands to end the inning. All things considered, one run in 4.1 innings from the soft part of the bullpen is pretty good. The Indians had a ton of base-runners — 16 in the first six innings! — but never broke it open.
The Comeback
The Yankees didn’t get much of anything going against Bauer after that third inning. He retired eleven of 13 batters after that inning and it wasn’t until the seventh that New York had any kind of serious threat. The game-tying rally started with a Stephen Drew walk — he fell behind 0-2 and came back to draw the walk — and continued with an Ellsbury double to right with one out. They were in business.
Between the walk and the double, Alex Rodriguez pinch-struck out for Murphy, which was a weird decision. Girardi gave up the DH with that move, and it was only the seventh inning of a two-run game. Plus he had a short bench because Mark Teixeira’s banged up. Oh well, I guess we wouldn’t complain if A-Rod homered. Anyway, Gardner struck out for the second out of the inning, then Beltran blooped a game-tying ground rule double to left.
Prior to Ellsbury’s double, the Yankees were hitless in ten at-bats with men in scoring position. Ellsbury’s double was smoked to right field but Beltran’s double was the definition of “hit it where they ain’t.” It was just beyond the reach of the outfielder and just inside the foul line. Perfectly placed. That was the big hit the Yankees were struggling to get earlier this series.
The Letdown
Once the game was tied, Girardi went to Dellin Betances in the top of the eighth, and he promptly walked the No. 9 hitter on four pitches. That’s okay! Only because McCann threw the pinch-runner out trying to steal second. Phew. Unfortunately, Lindor tomahawked a 3-2 fastball into the short porch for a go-ahead solo home run. The pitch was up in the zone but Dellin usually gets away with it. Not against Lindor though. Man is that kid impressive. The Indians took the 4-3 lead.
The Yankees did get a runner on base with one out in the eighth, but Didi Gregorius flew out and Drew stuck out on three pitches in a non-competitive at-bat. It was pathetic. Took two breaking balls for called strikes then swung over a pitch that nearly hit him in the foot. The Yankees went down 1-2-3 in the ninth, though Ellsbury should have walked. Home plate ump Tom Woodring called what should have been ball four strike three. His zone was brutal all day:
Leftovers
The Yankees had five hits total. Ellsbury singled and doubled, Beltran doubled, and both Headley and Bird singled. They did draw six walks though, including three by Gardner and two by Drew. Gregorius had the other walk. The offense went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and geez, I don’t even remember eight at-bats with men in scoring position. Seems like a lot.
Justin Wilson tossed a scoreless ninth after Betances gave up the go-ahead run. Andrew Miller was warming up as well, but apparently down a run is less important than tied, so Wilson pitched. Six Yankees pitchers combined to walk ten (!) batters in nine innings. It’s the first time they’ve walked ten in a nine-inning game since June 2010.
And finally, the Yankees went 2-5 against the last place Indians this year, and four of the losses were by one run. That doesn’t make it any easier to swallow. They’ve done a really bad job of beating up on bad teams. That is a big reason why the AL East lead disappeared.
Box Score, WPA Graph & Standings
You can find the box score and video highlights here and here, respectively. Here are the updated standings and postseason odds, as well as our Bullpen Workload and Announcer Standings pages. Now here’s the loss probability graph:
Source: FanGraphs
Up Next
The four-game series with the Indians is finally over. The Astros are coming to the Bronx next for the final series in this ten-game homestand. Nathan Eovaldi and Scott Feldman will be the pitching matchup Monday night. RAB Tickets can get you in the door if you want catch any of the three games against Houston at Yankee Stadium.
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