Friday, June 11, 2010

No Sweep For Yanks As They Fall 4-3 To O's

(Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images)

Final123456789RHE
N.Y. Yankees012000000340
Baltimore «20001100x480
WP: J. Arrieta (1-0) LP: A. Burnett (6-4)
SV: D. Hernandez (1)


Losing to the Orioles is embarrassing, and I'm sure a lot of you are pissed out there. I was too, but after taking ten straight from the Orioles, the law of averages was bound to catch up with us. At least Tampa and Boston lost.

A.J. Burnett was A.J. Burnett. One minute he looks like a dominant ace, and then the next he looks more like Kei Igawa. He started off the game with a very rough first inning. The O's scored two runs on two hits and two hit batters, and it was looking like Burnett was headed for one of those 2.1 IP, 8 H, 8 R, games. But give him credit, he settled down to retire ten Orioles in a row before Bad AJ showed up again and gave up two runs over his final two and a third innings.

Overall, he allowed four runs on eights hits and a walk over six and a third, and struck out five. Normally when facing Baltimore that's enough for a win, but the bats didn't show up tonight and he would suffer his fourth loss of the year.

Early on it looked like it was going to be a rough welcome to the big leagues for the 24-year-old Jake Arrieta. Robinson Cano got the Yankees offense started with a double in the second. Curtis Granderson would later knock him in with a triple.

An inning later the Yankees would add two more to take a 3-2 lead. Chad Moeller led off with a walk. Derek Jeter followed with a game-tying RBI double. Nick Swisher then gave the Yankees the lead with a sac fly. But the rookie showed poise in his major league debut and retired eight out of the next nine batters before again running into some trouble in the sixth. His start was a lot like A.J.'s, the only difference was he'd get out of the sixth inning unscathed.

Mark Teixeira started the inning with a leadoff double. Normally, this Alex Rodriguez up would be up next, but tonight, thanks to A-Rod's sore groin, he had to leave the game in the first and was replaced by Ramiro Pena. Still, Pena had a productive at bat, and bunted Tex over to third. He was also about a step short of beating it out for a hit.

With a man on third and one out against the rookie this was a golden opportunity to take command of the game, but once again Arrieta didn't fold. Between intentional walks to Cano and Granderson, Arrieta got Jorge Posada to fly out and then struck out Marcus Thames on four pitches to get out of the inning.

The O's took the lead in the next inning when Luke Scott's triple was followed by an Adam Jones double. In fairness to Burnett, Scott's "triple" was a ball Nick Swisher could have, and probably should have caught. It was a long high flyball that kept drifting toward that big wall in right. It eventually came down a couple feet in front of the wall, but Swisher mistimed his leap, and the ball bounced off his glove and into the corner allowing Scott to get to third.

Baltimore's bullpen took over from there. Frank Mata, Will Ohman and David Hernandez held the Yankees bats scoreless over the final three innings to avoid the sweep.

The Yankees now come home for an interleague series against the Astros. Andy Pettitte will face Brett Myers in the opener. Game time is 7:05 p.m. and the it will be on YES.

Derek Jeter, SS4111101.296
Nick Swisher, RF3001112.305
Mark Teixeira, 1B3010110.226
Alex Rodriguez, 3B0000000.290
a- Ramiro Pena, PH-3B2000000.213
b- Francisco Cervelli, PH-C1000012.280
Robinson Cano, 2B3110100.376
Jorge Posada, DH4000012.276
Curtis Granderson, CF3011120.254
Marcus Thames, LF4000024.280
Chad Moeller, C2100100.182
Kevin Russo, 3B0000100.206
Totals2934378

a-flied out for Rodriguez in the 4th
b-struck out for Pena in the 7th
Batting
2B - Derek Jeter (14, Arrieta), Mark Teixeira (12, Arrieta), Robinson Cano (19, Arrieta)
3B - Curtis Granderson (3, Arrieta)
SF - Nick Swisher (1)
SH - Ramiro Pena (2)
RBI - Derek Jeter (35), Nick Swisher (37), Curtis Granderson (17)
RISP: 1-6 (C Granderson 1-1, F Cervelli 0-1, M Thames 0-2, J Posada 0-2)
2-OUT RBI - Curtis Granderson (8)
Team LOB - 8
Fielding
PB - Chad Moeller 2 (2)

A.J. Burnett (L,6-4)6.28441513.86
Damaso Marte0.10000003.18
Chan Ho Park10000206.06
IBB - Moore by A.J. Burnett
HBP - Tejada (by A.J. Burnett), Scott (by A.J. Burnett)
Pitches-Strikes - A.J. Burnett 95-60, Damaso Marte 2-1, Chan Ho Park 12-8
Ground Balls-Fly Balls - A.J. Burnett 6-9
Batters Faced - A.J. Burnett 31, Damaso Marte 1, Chan Ho Park 3

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Jake Arrieta (First big league win)
HONORABLE MENTION: Adam Jones (2-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI)
GOAT OF THE GAME: A.J. Burnett

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