Source: FanGraphs
What a fitting end to a frustrating first half of the season. The Yankees lost 3-1 to the Orioles after only four and a half innings on Sunday night thanks to Mother Nature — the game was called after 2+ hour rain delay. New York heads into the All-Star break at a thoroughly mediocre 47-47. Let’s recap the rubber game loss.
- One Man Army: Right from Opening Day, the team’s best player this year has been Brett Gardner. He gave the Yankees their only run on Sunday with a leadoff homer against Kevin Gausman, his ninth long ball of the year. That’s a new career-high. Gausman allowed just three singles after that and the Yankees never had another runner reach second base. Well, not unless you count Mark Teixeira getting thrown out trying to stretch his first inning single into a double. He did physically get to second base, after all. Twelve of the final 13 men they sent to the plate made outs and I’m not sure they would have scored three more runs even if the game had continued.
- Back In The Rotation: Chase Whitley escaped a bases loaded situation in the second inning, but he wasn’t going to hold off this high-powered Orioles offense forever. Things fell apart for him in the fourth inning, the second time through the order. Nelson Cruz walked, Chris Davis mashed a go-ahead two-run homer, and J.J. Hardy doubled. All that happened within the first eleven pitches of the inning. Jonathan Schoop singled with two outs to plate the third run, ending Whitley’s night. He allowed the three runs on five hits and two walks in 3.2 innings. Over his last four starts, Whitley has put 40 men on base (five homers!) and surrendered 20 runs in 14 innings. He absolutely can not be in the rotation after the All-Star break. They gotta find someone else.
- Leftovers: The rain likely spared David Huff an ugly inning. He walked Steve Pearce to leadoff the fifth and was slated to face Adam Jones and Cruz before the tarp was brought out. Almost no chance that would have ended well … Gardner, Teixeira, Derek Jeter, and Brian McCann had the four hits … obviously this game gets an asterisk, but the Yankees closed out the first half by scoring no more than three runs in their final four games.
The box score and video highlights are at MLB.com, the nerdy stats are at FanGraphs, and the updated standings are at ESPN. The Yankees head into the break five games back of the top spot in the AL East and 3.5 games back of the second wildcard spot. They now get a much-needed four-game break before opening the second half against the Reds in Yankee Stadium. David Phelps and Mike Leake will be the pitching matchup on Friday night.
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