Cliche Alert: Every now and then, in his capacity as press secretary for Yankee manager and general manager Brian Cashman, Aaron Boone tells the media he thinks the Yankees "have turned the corner."
This 4-game weekend set at Fenway Park could have been a turn-the-corner series for the Yankees. Instead, in last night's game alone, they turned so many corners, they're right back where they started: At the corner of Hopeless & Useless.
Jordan Montgomery started. He was the 1st Yankee pitcher to get no run support at all in 5 straight starts. For a while, it looked like they would make it 6. The game was scoreless for the 1st 3 innings. But Tanner Houck walked Brett Gardner and Giancarlo Stanton to start the top of the 4th. A passed ball moved the runners over, and Gleyber Torres got Gardner home on a groundout. 1-0 Yankees.
Despite a rain delay in the 5th inning, Montgomery was sent back out, and got into the 6th inning with a 3-hit, 1-walk shutout. The newly-acquired Sal Romano finished the 6th, keeping it 1-0 Yankees.
Then Boone -- on Cashman's orders? -- started screwing up the bullpen. Romano got the 1st out in the bottom of the 7th, and, having thrown only 13 pitches, was removed for Lucas Luetge. He immediately allowed single, single, fielder's choice, sacrifice fly. Tie game.
The Yankees struck back in the top of the 8th, against former Yankee Adam Ottavino. DJ LeMahieu led off with a walk, and stole 2nd. Gardner walked. If Stanton had hit a home run here, Yankee Fans wouldn't have needed sex for a month. He hit an ordinary single, and it scored LeMahieu. Rougned Odor bunted the runners over, and Torres hit a sac fly to get Gardner home. 3-1 Yankees.
Luis Cessa needed only 5 pitches to get 3 outs. Clearly, the right thing to do would have been to leave him in for the bottom of the 10th. But Boone didn't do that. He brought in Chad Green, who started the inning with a strikeout, and then allowed single, single, lineout, double. 3-3.
Extra innings. Ghost runner. LeMahieu's groundout moved Tyler Wade over to 3rd, and Gardner's sac fly got him home. 4-3 Yankees.
Boone didn't trust Green to pitch the bottom of the 10th. Understandable. Nor Aroldis Chapman. Also understandable, due more to Chapman having pitched the last 2 nights than to the fear of what he might do with a 1-run lead at the little green pinball machine in the Back Bay.
Instead, Boone brought in Brooks Kriske. The day before, Kriske had gotten his 1st major league win. Now, he was going for his 1st major league save.
He ended up being a completely different pitcher. And the completely different pitcher he was, was Rick Ankiel. The Sox had their 2 best hitters up first, Xander Bogaerts and J.D. Martinez. With Rafael Devers starting the inning on 2nd base, Kriske threw 2 wild pitches, getting Devers around and tying the game. Then he walked Bogaerts. Then he threw 2 more wild pitches, getting Bogaerts to 3rd, before striking Martinez out. But a long fly ball by Hunter Renfroe was deep enough to get Bogaerts home.
A walk and four wild pitches in the 10th inning. (I usually to prefer to write numbers using their numerals instead of their words. This time, I thought it better to spell the word "four" out.) It was a collapse worth of the 1986 Red Sox. Except, this time, the New York team gave the game to the Red Sox in such fashion.
WP: Matt Barnes (5-2). No save. LP: Kriske (1-1).
With this ignominious defeat, the Yankees fall to 8 games behind the Sox in the American League Eastern Division, 4 1/2 out of the 2nd AL Wild Card slot. There are 67 games left.
The series continues tonight. Gerrit Cole starts against Eduardo Rodriguez, and if the Yankees can't win this game with Cole on the mound, the season is effectively over.
If, that is, you hadn't already considered it to be so.
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