Source: FanGraphs
So what is going well for the Yankees right now? Nothing. Pretty much nothing. The Yankees blew another lead Saturday — this was a three-run lead as opposed to the four-run lead they blew Friday — to drop to 1-4 on the young season. They look every bit as bad as that 1-4 record suggests too. Hopefully this ugly play won’t last much longer. It’s Saturday and it’s a nice night out, so here’s the first bullet point recap of the season:
- An Early Lead: On the bright side, the Yankees actually got to Kevin Gausman on Saturday. He held them to five runs in 41 innings last year. On Saturday, they hung four runs on him in 4.2 innings. Ronald Torreyes singled in a pair in the second inning, the third run scored on a balk, and the fourth on a Starlin Castro single. The Yankees were up 4-1 after the top of the fifth. Yay!
- Tanaka Unravels: For the first four innings Saturday, Masahiro Tanaka looked like the normal Masahiro Tanaka. He allowed just a run on a bloop single through four innings. Then, in the fifth, the first four batters reached base, including Manny Machado, who lined a double off the right field wall. The Orioles loaded the bases with no outs, and Tanaka did well to escape while allowing just one run. Still, that one run cut the lead to 4-3. Tanaka was charged with three runs on six hits, four walks, and a hit batsmen in five innings. His control was better than Opening Day, but not where we saw it all last season.
- The Blown Lead: You have to admire how committed the Yankees are to marginalizing Adam Warren. He relieved Tanaka, retired all four batters he faced on ten pitches, then was pulled to get the left-on-left matchup against Chris Davis, which of course didn’t work. Davis doubled against Tommy Layne and Mark Trumbo singled against Dellin Betances to tie the game. A stolen base and another single drove in the go-ahead run for the Orioles. Warren, meanwhile, has retired all 18 batters he faced this season. Love to slave to platoon matchups.
- Leftovers: In case you missed it, Gary Sanchez is heading to the disabled list with a biceps strain. He hurt himself taking a swing … Castro, Torreyes, and Matt Holliday each had two hits … Brett Gardner had a hit and a walk (and a nice diving catch) while Aaron Hicks had a hit and a two walks … Hicks also had a double taken away by Seth Smith’s nice leaping catch in right field … and finally, congrats to Holliday for reaching 2,000 career hits. He dunked a single to right in the first inning to reach the milestone.
Here are the box score and video highlights, and also make sure you check out our Bullpen Workload page. The Yankees and Orioles will wrap up this three-game series Sunday afternoon. That’s a 1:35pm ET start. It’ll be a battle of veteran lefties on the mound: CC Sabathia and Wade Miley.
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