Kuroda's Dominance Not Enough as Yanks' Bullpen Blows Another One

With two outs and nobody on in tonight's top of the eighth, the Yankees looked to be in pretty good shape.

The Bombers, who came into the contest on an ugly two-game losing streak, led 2-1 thanks to recurring heroics from the returning Mark Teixeira and Starter Hiroki Kuroda, both somewhat surprising.

Teixeira, who hadn't played since Saturday, drove in both of the team's runs in his first three at-bats, first on a first-inning bloop single and then on a go-ahead solo home run in the sixth.

That pair of trips around the bases was all the Yanks salvaged off the A's Scott Kazmir, who received a no decision after a solid 6.1 frames.

Thankfully, the minimal offensive production was enough for the home team, who received a nearly-perfect outing from the before-mentioned Kuroda, who tossed 6.2 innings of 2-hit (HR from Brandon Moss included) ball to set Dellin Betances up nicely.

Betances, coming off that dominant performance Sunday, entered the contest with two outs in the seventh, striking out Moss before recording the first two outs of the eighth routinely.

At that point, the Yanks were in control. Just four more outs and they'd be winning again.

Or not.

Facing Alberto Callaspo with a 1-2 count, Betances lost all control, walking the veteran before surrendering a pinch-hit, game-tying double to Stephen Vogt.

Betances would rebound to get the last out of the inning, but still, the damage had been done.

In the top of the ninth, David Robertson would retire all three hitters he faced, but that didn't necessarily cover for Adam Warren, who unfortunately was picked to throw the tenth.

The first hitter Warren (1-3; 1/3 IP, 3 ER)) faced in the AB, Brandon Moss, drove another one into the seats, followed shortly by two more runs to put the game out of reach.

In the bottom half of the inning, the Pinstripes went down 1-2-3, officially ending the disaster. Once again, the $200 million team had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, dropping their 2014 record to an extremely dissapointing, 29-28.