New York Yankees 1 – New York Mets 5
The Yankees take the tough loss in the series opener with the New York Mets.
In the first inning against Steven Matz, the Yankees got a leadoff walk by Brett Gardner. After a fly out to right, Carlos Beltran hit a single to put runners on the corners and Chris Young got the first run in on a sacrifice fly to center field. Greg Bird reached with a soft fly single to left but a ground out by John Ryan Murphy cut the rally to just one.
The Yankees had another opportunity to score in the second inning when two reached with two outs but Chase Headley flew out to deep left field for the third out.
Masahiro Tanaka pitched a scoreless first inning. After getting the first out in the second inning, he left a splitter in the middle of the zone and surrendered a solo home run off the facing of the second deck to Lucas Duda, tying it up at one.
With the game tied at one, both Matz and Tanaka settled down. Following the two-out single by Brett Gardner in the second inning, Matz retired eight in a row to get into the fifth inning, settling down. For Tanaka, he retired 11 of the next 13 following the Duda home run but the home run bug bit him once more in the sixth inning.
In the sixth inning, Chris Young led off with a bloop single. He advanced on a fielder’s choice and then with two outs, Didi Gregorius hit a single to put runners on the corners with two outs. Now, playing in the National League requires the pitcher to bat and the pitcher, Tanaka, was following the next batter Brendan Ryan. With this in mind, Brendan Ryan was left in for the strong scoring opportunity and he failed in the high leverage spot, grounding out to short, ending the inning.
After retiring Curtis Granderson and Yoenis Cespedes, Daniel Murphy took Tanaka deep to right center field, breaking the 1-1 tie. He gave up a single to David Wright but ended the inning with just a one-run deficit.
In six innings, Masahiro Tanaka allowed two runs on five hits while walking none and striking out four. The two runs came on a pair of solo home runs in what was a great start overall.
Chasen Shreve came on for the seventh inning and got the first two outs before the third out was hard to come by. Wilmer Flores kept the inning alive with a single to center field and pinch-hitter Juan Uribe came up big with a two-run home run to right field, putting the Mets ahead by three.
The Mets added a run in the eighth inning when Branden Pinder gave up a deep fly ball just beyond the leaping reach of Jacoby Ellsbury that gave Daniel Murphy a triple. After a walk, James Pazos came in for Lucas Duda but uncorked a wild pitch, allowing Murphy to score the Mets fifth run, putting them ahead by four.
The Yankees put together a rally in the ninth inning, against Mets’ closer Jeurys Familia in a non-save situation. Pinch-hitter Dustin Ackley led off with a double. Then with one out, pinch-hitter Alex Rodriguez walked. Jacoby Ellsbury lined a single off the leg of Familia to load the bases. Unfortunately, Brett Gardner flew out to shallow left field and Chase Headley went down swinging, to end the game with the bases loaded.
Win – Steven Matz (4-0)
Loss – Masahiro Tanaka (12-7)
Notables
Yankees
*Chris Young – 1 for 2, RBI (41)
*Brett Gardner – 1 for 4, R, BB
Mets
*Juan Uribe – 1 for 1, R, Two-run home run (14) in the 7th, 2 RBI (43)
*Daniel Murphy – 2 for 4, R, 3B, Solo home run (12) in the 6th, RBI (64)
Current Yankees Record: 80-66
