New York Yankees 2 — Houston Astros 6
The Yankees started their 2014 campaign where the 2013 ended, Houston. CC Sabathia took the mound tonight to open the season and struggled from the beginning. With diminished velocity and a slimmed down figure, Sabathia’s pitches didn’t have the sharpness needed. He gave up a leadoff double to Dexter Fowler. He advanced on a fly out to right field and scored on a single by Jose Altuve. A poor throw home on a ground ball to Mark Teixeira allowed a run to score and the Astros were up by two. The inning was made worse when Jesus Guzman put two more on the board with a two-run home run making it a four-run lead right away.
Sabathia would continue struggling in the second inning when L.J. Hoes started it off with a home run of his own. Dexter Fowler would hit his second double of the game and would score on a single by Altuve that Carlos Beltran struggled with in right field. Two difficult innings for Sabathia was all that the Astros needed.
The Yankees would not get their first hit until the fifth inning. They did get their first baserunner when Astros starter Scott Feldman hit Derek Jeter in the forearm in the first inning. Take a breath Yankees fans, he is okay. The Yankees would not put together a serious scoring threat until the seventh inning. With one out, Mark Teixeira would hit a single and with two outs, Brett Gardner would be the second batter hit by Feldman. Strike zone, not strike hitters Mr. Feldman. He would end his scoreless start by walking Brian Roberts. Left-handed reliever Kevin Chapman would get Kelly Johnson to weakly ground into a force out at home to end the threat.
Meanwhile, CC Sabathia had settled down from his very bad first two innings. He would allow three baserunners after the first two innings. He finished on a strong note but the damage was done. In six innings, CC Sabathia allowed six runs on eight hits with one walk and six strikeouts. In six Opening Day starts for the Yankees, CC Sabathia now has a 7.71 ERA.
The bullpen came out very strong following Sabathia’s start. Dellin Betances made his 2014 debut with a pair of strikeouts and a ground out to second. Dominant. Vidal Nuno made his 2014 debut to follow Betances. The soft-throwing Nuno would allow a single in his inning of work but he also got three strikeouts, including one looking.
The Yankees would prevent the shutout in the eighth inning when Jacoby Ellsbury led off with a walk. Derek Jeter would hit a single to right field and Carlos Beltran would advance them with a ground out to first. Brian McCann would defy the shift and hit a single to left field to put the Yankees first run on the board. Like McCann, Teixeira would go against the shift defense and single to left field too, scoring the second run of the game. Just when the Yankees looked like they had a rally in their bones, Alfonso Soriano would wrap up his bad first game with a rally-killing double play.
Some sloppy defense and some poor starting pitching led to another poor Opening Day. It’s just one game and Yankees baseball is back.
Win – Scott Feldman (1-0)
Loss – CC Sabathia (0-1)
Notables
Yankees
*Mark Teixeira – 2 for 3, BB, RBI (1)
*Brian McCann – 1 for 4, RBI (1)
Astros
*Jesus Guzman – 1 for 4, R, 2-Run Home Run (1) in the 1st, 2 RBI (2)
*Jose Altuve – 2 for 4, R, 2 RBI (2)
Current Yankees Record – 0-1
