Oakland Athletics 5 — New York Yankees 4
Errors and wildness play a big role in today’s 5-4 loss to the Oakland Athletics.
Hiroki Kuroda started for the Yankees and his pitches in the dirt proved to be a problem. A single, a double, and a walk would load the bases amongst 2 outs but the run would score on a wild pitch that Russell Martin couldn’t handle. In the 2nd inning, second baseman Cliff Pennington put 2 on the board with a 2-run home run to put the Yankees behind by 3. A wild pitch in the 5th inning with 2 on moved the runners into scoring position for rookie outfielder Yoenis Cespedes to bring in with a single to right center, erasing a 1-run lead that Kuroda had received. In the 6th inning, shortstop Eduardo Nunez returned to a familiar form as an errant throw to 1st reached the crowd, putting a runner at 2nd with 1 out. A single to left field would be the end of Kuroda’s 5.2 innings of work. He didn’t give the Yankees a solid amount of work and he gave Russell Martin a number of pitches to deflect behind the plate. He gave up 5 runs but only 4 were earned on his 7 hits. The bullpen was solid in holding the Athletics off the scoreboard. Eduardo Nunez made a 2nd error with David Phelps on the mound in the 7th but it didn’t come back to haunt him. Boone Logan also put an impressive 1.1 innings of work that included 2 strikeouts in the 8th inning.
The offense struggled early against rookie A.J. Griffin but figured him out in the 2nd time though the lineup. In the 4th inning, Robinson Cano got on base and Nick Swisher hit a 2-run home run to get the offense started. There would be 3 more hits, including a run-scoring double by Raul Ibanez. Eduardo Nunez would ground out to bring home the 4th run of the inning as the Yankees took the lead at the time. The Yankees would be unable to make up the 1-run deficit despite having runners in scoring position in the 5th & 6th inning.
Win – Jerry Blevins (5-1)
Loss – Hiroki Kuroda (14-11)
Save – Grant Balfour (20)
Notables
Athletics
*Cliff Pennington – 3 for 4, 2 R, 2-Run Home Run (6) in the 2nd, 3 RBI (27)
*Yoenis Cespedes – 1 for 5, RBI (76)
Yankees
*Nick Swisher – 2 for 3, R, BB, 2-Run Home Run (22) in the 4th, 2 RBI (85)
*Raul Ibanez – 2 for 4, 2B, RBI (57)
Current Yankees Record: 88-64
