The New York Yankees suffered a heartbreaking 1-0 loss in ten innings to the Baltimore Orioles to finally bring this dreary road trip to a close.
- New York Yankees: 0 (9-17)
- Baltimore Orioles: 1 (16-11)
- American League, FINAL, Box Score
- Camden Yards, Baltimore, MD
By Christian Kouroupakis
Masahiro Tanaka dazzled yet again for the New York Yankees but unfortunately they found a way to drop Thursday night’s rubber game against the Baltimore Orioles.
New York’s ace went eight shutout innings and only allowed five hits while striking out seven (only one walk). The 27-year old lowered his ERA to 2.29 as he earned his fourth straight quality start.
Despite the incredible start, the Yankees threw it in the garbage and failed to build momentum from last night’s seven-run outburst thanks to another anemic offensive performance that fans have grown used to seeing.
Starlin Castro showed up the ballpark with his hitting shoes on as he went 2-for-4 and got into scoring position on two occasions.
Turns out he was the only one who came to hit as the rest of the lineup went 2-for-28 and never got passed the first base bag. The Yankee offense managed 2.9 in the last nine games and is undeniably the cause of the depressing 2-7 road trip.
The controversy in this ballgame was the decision to go with Johnny Barbato instead of the closer Andrew Miller in the final inning. Barbato let up a lead off single to Hyun Soo Kim followed by a single by Jonathan Schoop to put runners on the corners with zero outs.
Following the Schoop single, fill-in manager Rob Thompson decided to go to Miller to face Pedro Alvarez but at that point, it was too late.
Alvarez lifted a straightaway fly ball to Jacoby Ellsbury who didn’t have the arm strength to throw out Kim, and the Orioles walked off with a 1-0 victory along with a series win.
Shutout and a #walkoff. Not too shabby! #VoteOrangehttps://t.co/ZyBCRMgg8t
— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) May 6, 2016
Play Of The Day:
In the bottom of the ninth inning with the winning run on first, Matt Wieters lifted a high fly ball to deep right that seemed as though it had a chance to leave the park.
Dustin Ackley, who has only played four games in right, was nearing the wall and made a leap of faith for the descending baseball.
While crashing into the fence he made the catch and doubled off Joey Rickard at first base to end the potential winning hit for Baltimore.
A slow-mo look at Dustin Ackley’s catch: pic.twitter.com/6fTxiVI86Y
— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) May 6, 2016
A great play by Dustin Ackley sends us to extras! #LetsGoYankees
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) May 6, 2016
Oopsy Daisy:
In the top of the ninth inning, Castro represented the go-ahead run with Brian McCann at the dish and the Yankee second baseman committed one of the most frustrating baserunning blunders.
After McCann swung and missed on a Zach Britton fastball, Matt Wieters unloaded a pickoff attempt and nabbed Castro at second base to end the threat.
A play like this leaves baseball coaches across the world shaking their heads and pulling their hair out. They’ll also tell you that a mistake like that cannot happen in a situation like that.
Fuming:
In the top of the fourth inning, manager Joe Girardi was ejected after a balk was not called on opposing pitcher Kevin Gausman.
Girardi stormed through the dugout and barked at umpire Chris Guccione throughout Carlos Beltran’s at bat. Guccione tossed Girardi causing a feisty screaming match at Camden Yards.
If called, Starlin Castro would have been granted the right to score and might have even led to a Yankee win, but unfortunately for New York that wasn’t the case.
It was Girardi’s first ejection of 2016, and his first since June 7th of last year. He has been ejected 31 times in his career, 28 as a manager, 27 as the Yankees manager, and one time as a Yankee player in 1999.
Well, there goes Joe for the evening.#Yankees pic.twitter.com/sjSCdf5xGS
— Elite Sports NY (@EliteSportsNY) May 6, 2016
Roster Moves:
Prior to today’s ballgame, the Yankees called up outfielder Ben Gamel after Brett Garnder was hit by a pitch in Wednesday night’s 7-0 victory. X-Rays were negative, but New York decided to take precaution.
Of course, when one gets called, one must go down. Unfortunately for James Pazos, he was the one to be demoted one day after being called up. To make it worse, the send-down took place the day Pazos turned 25.
Roster Moves: Prior to tonight’s game, the Yankees recalled OF Ben Gamel from @swbrailriders and optioned LHP James Pazos to Scranton/WB
— Yankees PR Dept. (@YankeesPR) May 5, 2016
What’s Next:
The New York Yankees will kick off a ten-game homestand on Friday night as they welcome the Boston Red Sox into the Bronx.
Starting in game one will be the mind boggler himself, Michael Pineda. He’ll get another chance to shut down the Red Sox lineup that tapped him for two runs on five hits on April 30 at Fenway. On the season, Big Mike is 1-3 with a 6.33 ERA and is currently experiencing a four-start winless streak.
Opposing him for Boston is Rick Porcello who owns a 1.33 ERA in his last three starts including 13.1 straight innings without giving up a single earned run. Against the Yankees last Saturday, Porcello pitched seven shutout innings.
Coverage will begin at six on the YES Network and MLB Network. ESNY will provide you with a full series preview featuring everything you need to know prior to first pitch.
