New York Yankees 12 — New York Yankees 7
A nine inning game goes nearly four hours in a high scoring, poor pitching matchup.
Right from the beginning of the game, it was clearly going to be a very long game. Yankees starter Vidal Nuno opened the game with a hit batter and a walk. David Wright would hit a single to center field and the Mets were ahead by one. With one out, Curtis Granderson would continue to enjoy his return to the Bronx with a three-run home run to put the Mets ahead by four.
The Yankees would respond in the bottom half of the inning against Zack Wheeler. Brett Gardner would single and Derek Jeter would walk but Jacoby Ellsbury sharply hit into a double play before the Yankees rallied with two outs. Mark Teixeira would continue hitting, bringing home Gardner for the first Yankees run. Brian McCann would hit a laser into the right field crowd for his fifth home run of the season. And just like that, the Yankees scored three and made it a one-run game.
Vidal Nuno would have a quick second inning but it all went downhill from there. Wright would open the third inning with a double to left field and after a fly out to deep center field and a walk, Wright would score on a sacrifice fly by Juan Lagares. Third baseman Yangervis Solarte would make a costly throwing error in the fourth inning. With a runner on first, the soft ground ball would go to Solarte and his throw would be wide of second, going to center field and allowed the two runners to advance to scoring position. Daniel Murphy would productively fly out to bring home the sixth run for the Mets. Nuno would be replaced by Alfredo Aceves. After giving up one more run, the line of Vidal Nuno’s was finished.
Vidal Nuno lasted just 3.1 innings and allowed seven runs, five earned, on four hits and four walks while striking out one and throwing 78 pitches. Efficiency would not describe Nuno tonight.
In the bottom half of the fourth inning, the Yankees had a great opportunity to stage a comeback. Leadoff walks to Yangervis Solarte and Kelly Johnson would get Wheeler when Gardner hit a run-scoring single. But Derek Jeter would kill the inning with a one-hop comebacker to Wheeler who turned a double play.
Daniel Murphy would go deep off of Aceves in a long fifth inning for three runs as the game started to truly get away from the Yankees. Those who stayed for the final innings got to see Yangervis Solarte hit his third home run of the season. Of the pitchers, reliever Matt Daley deserves a lot of love for three scoreless innings to give the Yankees a little to be happy about on the pitching side.
Between the two teams, there was 16 walks from 389 pitches. Pitchers and pitching coaches, don’t keep the gameplan from tonight.
Win – Daisuke Matsuzaka (1-0)
Loss – Vidal Nuno (1-1)
Notables
Mets
*David Wright – 3 for 5, 2 R, 2B, 2 RBI (25)
*Curtis Granderson – 2 for 3, 2 R, 2 BB, 3-Run Home Run (5) in the 1st, 3 RBI (19)
Yankees
*Brian McCann – 3 for 4, R, BB, 2-Run Home Run (5) in the 1st, 3 RBI (15)
*Brett Gardner – 2 for 5, R, RBI (17)
Current Yankees Record: 19-19
