One-Nil to the Pinstripe Boys

Yesterday, my Summertime blues led me to raise a fuss and raise a holler over the Yankees being unable to win games when they score two runs, or one: Their record in such games this season was 1-24.

It's almost as if they actually read that post.

Luis Severino started against the Texas Rangers. He has been shaky since coming off the Injured List. This time, he went 6 innings, allowing 5 hits and 2 walks, but no runs. He walked 2 batters in the 1st, and a single nearly scored Nathaniel Lowe, but right fielder Jake Bauers threw him out at home plate. He kept the shutout through 6 innings, and Tommy Kahnle pitched a perfect 7th. 

But it doesn't matter how good your pitching is if you don't score. The Yankees went down 1-2-3 in the 1st inning, Giancarlo Stanton singled with 1 out in the 2nd, but was stranded. With 1 out in the 3rd, Anthony Volpe drew a walk. Jake Bauers grounded out, advancing Volpe to 2nd. Gleyber Torres drew a walk. And Harrison Bader singled, but Volpe had to hold up. The bases were loaded for Anthony Rizzo, and he struck out.

Billy McKinney, doing his best Aaron Judge impersonation, hit a home run with 1 out in the 4th. It wasn't "One-nil to The Arsenal," it was "One-nil to the Pinstripe Boys." I don't think anyone in the crowd of 46,018 expected that score to hold up. The Yankees went down 1-2-3 in the 5th inning. Rizzo singled with 1 out in the 6th, but was stranded. They went down 1-2-3 in the 7th.

Aaron Boone sent Wandy Peralta out to pitch the 8th. He allowed back-to-back singles, and the new rule, designed to avoid what used to be known as LOOGys (Lefty One Out Guys), forced Peralta to face a 3rd batter, but he struck him out. Then Boone sent Clay Holmes in, and he got out of the jam. The Yankees went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 8th.

A 1-0 lead is nerve-wracking enough in the closing minutes of a soccer game. In a baseball game, especially in the new Yankee Stadium, which, for all our protestations of "Death Valley" in left and center field, does favor hitters, a 1-0 lead will, as our old friend Phil Rizzuto used to save, give us agita.

Boone sent Ron Marinaccio out to finish the job. He gave up a single to Jonah Helm. He walked Mitch Garver. Oh no, this is it, isn't it?

No, it wasn't: Marinaccio struck Ezequiel Duran out, he struck Leody Taveras out, and he got Marcus Semien to pop up to 2nd, where a very nervous-looking Torres caught it. Done and dusted. One-nil to the Pinstripe Boys.

Yankees 1, Rangers 0. WP: Severino (1-2). SV: Marinaccio (2). LP: Jon Gray (6-3). Yankees' record when scoring fewer than 3 runs this season: 2-24.

The series concludes this afternoon. The good news: Gerrit Cole starts for the Yankees. The bad news: Nathan Eovaldi starts for the Rangers. No player more symbolizes the failure of Brian Cashman than Eovaldi, whose Yankee tenure was messed up by how his injury was handled, and then he was released, and then he was picked up by the Boston Red Sox, and he went on to be the winning pitcher in 2 postseason elimination games against us. This game could end up being typical of the season -- depending on how we follow it up.