The New York Yankees’ bullpen was able to extend the contest into extras, but the offense failed to come through as they drop this one in depressing fashion.
- Oakland Athletics: 3 (7-7)
- New York Yankees: 2 (5-7)
- American League, FINAL (11), Box Score
- Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY
By Christian Kouroupakis
Jed Lowrie matched his career high for hits in a game with four and one of them was an 11th inning double that set up his go-ahead run to help the Oakland Athletics defeat the New York Yankees 3-2 on Tuesday night.
New York’s starter Michael Pineda managed to provide the Yankees with a quality start by only allowing two runs on seven hits, but the offense failed to provide him much support.
On the other side of Pineda, Oakland’s Eric Surkamp tossed 5.2 innings, and also gave up two runs on seven hits in his first career start against the Yankees.
Carlos Beltran went 1-for-4 with an RBI and Alex Rodriguez went 2-for-5 with an RBI single as he’s starting to look more relaxed at the plate.
What did it for the Yankees was that they failed to record a hit in the final five frames and went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position while leaving eight runners on base.
It’s a frustrating loss in that the Athletics are expected to finish near the bottom of the barrel yet again this season. Oakland led the AL with 35 one run losses in 2015 and this was a game the Bombers could have won with ease.
FINAL (11): Athletics 3, #Yankees 2.
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) April 20, 2016
Are You Not Entertained?
Despite the New York Yankees’ bullpen surrendering the go-ahead run tonight, they dazzled yet again which at this point should not surprise you.
Chasen Shreve, Dellin Betances, Andrew Miller, and Johnny Barbato combined for five innings of one-run ball with five strikeouts and only granted four hitters the right to reach base.
The foursome has a combined 43 strikeouts in 26.1 innings of work through twelve games with a 0.34 ERA.
The filthiest one of them all is arguably Betances, and he has struck out 58.6% of the batters he has faced in 2016. He also has 17 strikeouts in a mere seven innings pitched thus far.
Straight ?? from @DBetances68!!
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) April 20, 2016
Big Game From Big Mike:
In his first two starts, Pineda struggled mightily with leaving the ball up in the zone and got himself into high pitch counts. It was the underlying cause of his 6.55 ERA but in this outing, however, Pineda was on.
Although he’s still working out some kinks, he pitched six innings of two-run ball while striking out seven and walking one. Pineda now owns a 2.25 ERA in four career starts against Oakland.
After a rough outing against the Houston Astros and some unluckiness in Toronto, Pineda took a huge step forward as he continues his attempt to channel his inner ace.
#BIGMike’s night is done as @chasenshreve takes over in the 7th.
Final line: 6 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 7 Ks. pic.twitter.com/mWNYwknhg3
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) April 20, 2016
This Day In Yankees’ History:
On this day in 1949, the Yankees unveiled a monument in centerfield dedicated to Babe Ruth.
In the old stadium, there was no monument park, so Ruth joined the other monuments (Lou Gehrig, Miller Huggins) in the deepest part of centerfield.
On this day in 1949, the @Yankees unveiled a memorial monument in center field to honor MLB legend Babe Ruth. pic.twitter.com/3LuKzTldCF
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) April 19, 2016
What’s Next:
The A’s and Yankees will go back at it tomorrow night at the stadium. Nathan Eovaldi will take the hill with Kendall Graveman going against him.
At some points in his last outing in Toronto, Eovaldi’s splitter make the right-hander looked absolutely unhittable. However, it started rising on hitters as the game progressed resulting in two home runs in his last two innings of work.
In four career starts against Oakland, Eovaldi has a 5.09 ERA and has given up 32 hits in 23 innings against them.
Graveman made one start against the Yankees and surrendered three runs on seven hits in 5.2 innings pitched. In that game, Brian McCann had his number as he went 3-for-4 with a home run and two RBI.
First pitch will be at 7:05 with full coverage beginning at six on the YES Network.
