July 21, 1996: Yankees offense struggles, lose to Brewers 3-2
After struggling to get anything going offensively all day, the Yankees had their best shot to do some damage in the seventh inning this afternoon.
Trailing 3-2, New York loaded the bases with two outs, forcing Milwaukee manager Phil Garner to bring in lefty specialist Graeme Lloyd to pith to lefty Darryl Strawberry. Lloyd induced a ground ball to end the inning, and the Yankees' threat was over.
Lloyd, the tall Australian southpaw, has been impressive this season, pitching to a 1.93 ERA over 42 innings in relief. He could be an attractive trade chip at the deadline, since the Brewers have been hovering around .500 all season and currently look at a 9-and-a-half game deficit in the AL Central.
Jimmy Key pitched well enough to win, but it wasn't good enough - he gave up three runs on seven hits over seven innings on a day in which the Yankees offense stalled. Their two runs came on just one swing - a Ruben Sierra two-run home run in the second inning which gave the Yankees a short-lived 2-1 lead. Rookie shortstop Derek Jeter collected two of the Yankees' six hits, raising his average to .287 on the season. Key is now 7-7 with an unimpressive 4.89 ERA.
Brewers starter Mike D'Amico went six and gave up two runs on four hits before giving way to a quartet of relievers who closed the door. The Yankees have now lost five of their last seven games, but still hold a comfortable eight game lead over the second place Orioles in the AL East.
After starting their 11-game road trip 4-0, the Yankees went a disappointing 2-5 over their last seven games. They finally head home to the Bronx to take on the 56-42 Texas Rangers tomorrow night.
Box score and current stats
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Yankees 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 6 0
Brewers 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 X 3 7 1Batting AB R H RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG
Boggs 3B 4 0 1 0 1 0 .323 .396 .403
B.Williams CF 5 0 0 0 0 1 .312 .392 .538
ONeill RF 3 0 0 0 1 0 .313 .433 .464
Strawberry DH 3 0 0 0 1 0 .227 .382 .455
Martinez 1B 3 1 1 0 1 1 .288 .346 .459
Sierra LF 4 1 1 2 0 1 .264 .334 .416
Girardi C 4 0 1 0 0 0 .300 .364 .375
Jeter SS 4 0 2 0 0 0 .287 .358 .402
Fox 2B 1 0 0 0 1 0 .205 .300 .280
Aldrete PH 1 0 0 0 0 1 .241 .337 .4812B:Jeter (17, off D'Amico).
HR:Sierra (11, off D'Amico, 2nd inn, 1 on, 0 outs to Deep RF).
RBI:Sierra 2 (51).Pitching IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Key L (7-7) 7 7 3 3 1 4 1 4.89
Polley 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.75
Nelson 0.2 0 0 0 0 1 0 4.53