New York Yankees 1 — Kansas City Royals 2
The offense cannot come through for Hiroki Kuroda.
The Yankees had an opportunity against Royals’ starter James Shields in the first inning but the second inning was the truly deflating inning. Yangervis Solarte started the second inning with a single and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Ichiro Suzuki would hit a single and Brian Roberts would walk to load the bases with no outs for a prime scoring opportunity. Kelly Johnson would strike out swinging for the first out. Brett Gardner would ground into a force out at home to prevent the run from scoring. Derek Jeter would follow with a check swing strikeout of his own to end the inning without scoring a run.
After a morale deflating top of the second inning, the Royals would get to Kuroda. With two outs in the inning, Salvador Perez would hit a bloop single to right field. Lorenzo Cain would hit a double to right that scored Perez to put the Royals ahead by one. Mike Moustakas would hit a high fly single to shallow center field and a second run would score. Alcides Escobar would hit a single but Kuroda would keep the damage to two.
In the third inning, the first batter would reach but he would be erased on a strike ’em out, throw ’em out double play. In the fourth inning, the first batter would reach again but Kuroda would generate another double play as he gave the Yankees plenty of time to come back. Kuroda would get the final 11 batters faced to finish his day game start like vintage Hiroki Kuroda.
Over seven strong innings, Hiroki Kuroda allowed two runs on five hits while walking two and striking out three. This was a great start for the second time in a row.
The offense was hideous in today’s game. Jacoby Ellsbury led off the third inning with a double but would be stranded. In the fourth inning, Brian Roberts would get a ball boy assisted ground rule double, but would be stranded too. The Yankees would finally score in the sixth inning. Yangervis Solarte would start with a double and advanced on a passed ball. Ichiro Suzuki would ground out to bring home Solarte. With a runner in scoring position, the Yankees scored their run on a ground out.
The Yankees had a runner on third in the seventh inning and ninth inning but, as is the theme of the game, could not get the hit needed to score the tying run.
As a team, the Yankees hit 1-for-17 with runners in scoring position.
Win – James Shields (7-3)
Loss – Hiroki Kuroda (4-4)
Save – Greg Holland (18)
Notables
Yankees
*Ichiro Suzuki – 2 for 4, RBI (8)
*Yangervis Solarte – 2 for 4, R, 2B
Royals
*Lorenzo Cain – 1 for 3, R, 2B, RBI (24)
*Mike Moustakas – 1 for 3, RBI (20)
Current Yankees Record: 31-31
